


Winter's Peril

by WhereistheLarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood and Injury, Canada, Funeral, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Character Death, Moving On, Moving Out, Murder Mystery, Non-Graphic Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Police, Snow, Suspicions, moving in, unexpected love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-08-07 09:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 38,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16406174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhereistheLarry/pseuds/WhereistheLarry
Summary: Louis and his husband, Dill, move to a new town. At first, things seem great. A happily married couple moving into their first proper house. However, one event turns Louis' life upside down.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all, I'm back again after a few weeks. This story has been in the works for YEARS. I am so glad that I have basically finished it. I'm just trying to sort out the ending but that should be done before I get to posting the other chapters.
> 
> This is my first murder mystery and I'm glad that it is finished. I hope you enjoy it and bare with me if there are any mistakes. I've edited it at least three times but hopefully, there are no big errors.
> 
> As time goes on I'll be asking questions and I would love it if you responded so I can know if you enjoy it. I want to know your verdicts on who has done what.
> 
> Glad to see you back if you're a long time follower and I welcome you if this is your first read of mine.
> 
> Hope you're all okay though.

Moving to a new place was never easy. However, moving to a new country had to be worse. It was the first time Louis had ever seen this place. His husband had only sent him photos of the town they would be staying in. Many thoughts ran through his head as he stared out at the forest while it whizzed past them. The trees loomed over them like haunting figures. You could just about see the sky above which was beginning to turn a light blue. The small glimpse of the sun shone through the treetops and provided them with little light. Dill sat beside him, his eyes paying attention to the empty road they had been driving down since the morning. They were just coming into the fifth hour of driving. The car’s lingering smell of cigarettes that Dill had consumed hadn’t dissipated at all since their petrol stop a few hours ago. In the background, the radio quietly played as they drove down the Canadian highway.

Louis already missed New York. He had lived in Brooklyn for four years and it is where he met his husband Dill. He felt glad that their fifteen-hour journey was almost up because the fatigue had begun to kick. Their night at the motel was fun. However, a comfortable bed would have been appreciated.

Once he wound down the car window, he took in a deep breath. He could smell the earthy forest around them as well as the clean and crisp air.

The moving truck would arrive a few hours after them if they arrived on time. Louis couldn’t wait to see their house when it finally had all the furniture in it.

As he felt the breeze run through his hair and over his face, he turned to look at Dill.

“Di, thank you for everything," he said with soft eyes. "I love you, babe.”

A warm smile appeared on his face when Dill glanced over at him. “I know it’s a lot to move like this. I want to thank you for coming with me. I’m so glad to have you here. I love you.”

Louis grinned at him and reached a hand over to lay it on top of his husbands. “I’m happy to be with you.”

The trees cleared after a few minutes. They drove onto a straight open road. The sun finally filled their car. Louis quickly pulled the visor down to cover his eyes. He caught a glimpse of two black crows flying a few metres above their vehicle.

Eventually, his eyes began to droop as he felt himself falling asleep. The light humming of the engine also helping him to drift off.

“Go to sleep Lou, I’ll wake you up when we arrive,” his slightly Italian accent seemed to come through when he spoke.

He admits that he felt slightly tired. Louis' mouth opened in a large yawn. He rested his feet on the dash.

“Thanks, Di,” he mumbled just as his eyes slipped closed.

 

~~~

 

What woke Louis was the fact that their truck wasn’t on anymore. He rubbed his eyes just as they flickered open. It didn’t take long for him to realise that they had arrived. It took a few seconds to recognise where he was. However, he noticed the house that Dill had shown him in all their facetimes.

Louis' eyes widened in glee as he reached for the car handle. He hurriedly took his legs off of the dash and stepped out of the vehicle. Louis looked at their detached house. He broke out into a wide smile. It looked much better than the photos. Eventually, Louis saw Dill talking to one of the moving men. They were earlier than he expected them to be. When Dill noticed Louis, he waved to him and smiled.

As Louis walked closer, Dill shooed away the moving men. They came together in a hug after they shared a kiss.

“I’m sorry I didn’t wake you up. The moving men had arrived and I needed to talk to them. You looked tired,” Louis hummed as he pressed light kisses under his chin. “But I guess you’re not so tired anymore.” Louis giggled into his neck. He moved his arms away from around his shoulders and stared into his green eyes.

“It was a good nap,” he smirked. “So can we start unpacking now?”

“Yeah, they’re just gonna bring the boxes inside, go and wait inside, I’ll come back soon,” Dill said before tapping his bum.

Louis squealed at the movement and glared at a laughing Dill.

Just as he was about to go inside, he felt a small drop of snow land on his neck. He quickly turned around and noticed the greying clouds that covered the town. He frowned for a second before pushing open the brown door that led to the hallway.

Even though the house looked small on the outside, it became apparent that it was quite spacious when he walked inside. He finally got to see the lovely open plan kitchen which was opposite the living room. Some wooden stairs led up to the two bedrooms, one a master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and another a slightly smaller one, and the other bathroom. The floor was empty. However, the fireplace stood on the right side of the house. There were some glass doors which went to their garden.

Louis slowly walked towards the window, his reflection faintly staring back at him while he got closer. He stared at the forest that was at least half an acre away from their house. The trees were close together. It looked thick, almost like a maze. The greying clouds unnerved him a bit, especially once he saw them lurking over the forest. Hopefully, it would pass. Louis folded his arms over his chest as he cocked his hip out to the side, still staring at the scene in front of him.

Louis almost flipped when he feels a hand slide onto his waist and he quickly turned around to see only Dill standing there. After a few moments of staring at each other with wide eyes, Louis finally relaxed. His erratic breathing calms down, something which he did not notice.

"You okay Lou?"

“S-Sorry, I’m fine. You just frightened me,” Louis chuckled to himself, trying to get rid of the slight hint of awkwardness in the air.

“No, no, it’s okay. It’s my fault. I tried calling you. I guess you didn’t hear me, so deep in your thoughts,” he grinned.

Louis only laughed as he lay his head on Dill’s firm chest and held onto the sides of his arms. Strong arms wrapped around his body and pulled him close. Louis felt comforted by the sound of his beating heart.

“We’ll start unpacking in a bit, just want to do the kitchen and our bedroom today, you know, so we can eat and sleep.”

Louis hummed into his chest as Dill ran a comforting hand through his hair. “Okay, I mean, we only need to eat and sleep right?”

When Dill laughed, it brought a smile to his face. He lifted his head from his borrow in his chest and gently pecked his lips.“That is true.”

The smile continued to remain on Louis' face as he looked at the man before him. “I love you.”

Dill hummed just as their lips met again. “Ti amo, let’s start unpacking.”

 

~~~

 

With the help of the moving men, they managed to complete the bedroom and the kitchen. The next day they spent moving some furniture around into different places, well mainly Dill, Louis pointed out where everything should go.

Just as Dill pushed the last sofa into place and Louis placed a quilt over it, they had finally finished.

“Yay! We’re done. We can finally relax,” Louis smiled.

He huffed when he collapsed onto the green velvet sofa and smiled as he closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he felt a body lay on top of him and giggled at the weight.

“Dill! You’re going to squash me!” Louis laughed when he felt Dill bury himself into his neck.

“I thought you liked it when I was on top,” he smirked.

“Oh shush.”

Dill kissed his neck. Louis smiled while he ran a hand over his tan skin. His eyes soon slipped closed just as he sucked a love bite onto his neck. A moan escaped him just as Dill ground his hips over his crotch.

“W-We should go upstairs, use the bed you know,” he moaned.

Dill’s fingers slid under his top when Louis wrapped his legs around his waist. Before Dill could take his top off of his body, there was a knock on the door. Louis groaned as he rested his head on the armrest.

“How are we getting disturbed? There has got to be less than two thousand people in this town.”

Dill chuckled before getting up from the sofa and walking towards the door. Louis sat up on the sofa and leant his elbow against the back as he watched him move. When he opened the door, Louis smiled when he noticed a familiar face. It was Verlee, Verlee Anderson. They knew her back in Brooklyn as she was one of Dill’s colleagues and a good friend to them both. She had to move back to her hometown which she had done a year ago when they asked her to relocate to the smaller firm close to Mahone Bay. It was great for her as it meant she could be closer to her parents.

“Hey Dill!” she grinned before launching into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re here! You finally get to see my country!” Her head soon turned to meet Louis’ gaze. She seemed to smile wider.“Lou! Hey!”

“Verlee!” he giggled as he ran off of the couch and went to hug her. His eyes crinkled around the corners when he held her. It had been forever since they had last seen each other.

“Ugh, I haven’t seen you in such a long time!” She grinned into his neck, holding his body tightly.

Louis smiled, showing his teeth. “Yeah, it’s been forever.”

Verlee gasped before reaching into a bag she had brought. “Oh! I have a gift. Thought you would like some wine,” she smirked, shaking the bottle in her hand.

Louis looked at her with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Dill just shook his head as he wrapped an arm around his waist. “You cheeky devil. We can have some now?”

Throwing her head back as she laughed, Louis watched as Dill took the bottle from her. “Oh no, I’ll leave it to the both of you, I just wanted to pass by.”

Dill pressed a kiss to his temple before heading for the kitchen. “Aww, okay.”

“How’s the new house?” She asked. Louis grinned. He watched as her eyes roamed the inside of their house.

“It’s lovely, this town looks beautiful. Well, what I've seen of it.”

“Have you seen the sea yet? You’ll love it, you can go for boat rides, you know if you’re looking for date ideas.”

He saw Dill smiling in the corner of the kitchen as he blushed. He held two wine glasses in his hand as he walked to the pair of them. He put his arm around Louis' waist.

“I’ll have a look.”

 

~~~

 

Dill had started his first day of work. Louis still needed to find a job. Hopefully, he could find something, all be it temporary before finding a proper job. He thought it would have been a quiet day for him. However, it seemed that quite a few people wanted to see them.

Their first visitor was a guy called Dnias Ladd. He seemed friendly. However, Louis could sense something a bit off about him. When he saw the two of them together, he looked like he already had his suspicions about their relationship. They were a bit hesitant about being too close as they didn't know how the town felt about gay people.

Around lunchtime, he wanted to go and look for a job. However, he still had a few things that needed to be cleared before he did.

Just as he was taking out some rubbish, he noticed that a little bit of snow had settled on the ground. It being mid-October, he wasn't too sure if it was normal for them to have snow.

His head lifted as he heard the engine of a black Toyota Land Cruiser rolling down the road. He raised an eyebrow once he noticed the car turn into their driveway. A woman stepped out wearing a pair of black boots, jeans and a red checkered shirt. Her blonde hair was tied up into a ponytail. Louis was a little confused as to why she wore sunglasses even though clouds still remained in the sky.

"Hiya, are you the new neighbours?" the woman spoke. Louis felt a little intimidated by her appearance. It made his jogging bottoms and white top look like rags compared to her.

"Yeah, that's me. Who are you?" Louis asked, slightly suspicious of her.

"I'm Emily Gunn, I just wanted to say hello."

Louis nodded. "Well, that's very kind of you."

"Is Dill here?" Louis immediately raised an eyebrow at her, noticing her head turn to look behind him. He shook his head and wondered how she knew him.

"No, why?" he asked sceptically.

"I'm the assistant to Catherine, the lady who sold you this house."

His eyes twitched a little, slowly nodding afterwards. "I know about Catherine. You were never mentioned before."

"Really?" she seemed surprised. It made him even more curious. "Well, I got to help a little with the process."

"Thank you for your help, we're very happy with everything you've done so far."

Louis gave her a condescending smile which made Emily frown a little.

"Well, I'm just going to go. Tell Dill I said hi."

"Okay, bye bye now."

She turned around. Louis followed her movements to her car. "Oh, I am so sorry, I forgot to ask for your name?"

"I'm Louis, Louis Cecilio."

"Thank you, Louis, I'll see you around."

Louis nodded. He watched her climb into the car and glance at him as she started up the engine. She quickly backed out of their driveway and made her way down the road.

"I'll make sure of it," Louis muttered before turning back towards their house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter is done! Whoo!
> 
> Mahone Bay is a real place in Canada. It's pretty cool actually.
> 
> Also, Dill and Louis are kinda cute. Am I wrong to say that *glances away nervously*
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my Lovelies!
> 
> Very sorry for not updating yesterday but I was extremely busy with life. I'll update again tomorrow.
> 
> Does anyone else really like the Italian language?
> 
> Interesting meeting coming up later...

The weekend had begun and soon they found themselves walking through the local neighbourhood. They decided to take a ride on a horse and carriage but Dill didn’t say what would happen after. They got to see most of the town in under half an hour. It was beautiful. Especially with the large amount of the sea that could be seen from the harbour. The layer of snow made everything look breathtaking.

It definitely was a small town, not many people walked the streets. The shops almost looked empty. The high street only consisted of six shops: a hairdresser, a bank, a grocery store, a hardware store, a bar and a pharmacy, all on one side of a road. They overlooked the harbour which led to the sea. A few boats and men wearing fishing overalls stood by the small pier. They looked as though they were discussing something as they stared at the sea.

That's where their ride finished. They took a boat ride, that being the surprise that Dill had planned. They were told just to be a little careful on the sea as it may get dangerous.

That was one thing he loved about Dill, he tended to do the unexpected. It was a lovely day apart from the light chill that spread through the town. The cold didn't deter any of them as they made sure to wrap up warm.

They slowly paddled about 20 metres out before letting themselves drift for a while. Dill was relatively experienced due to his family back in Italy living by the coast.

The floating water helped to calm Louis as he sat with his eyes closed. He let the wind brush over his face and happily sighed. “You look beautiful, il mio angelo bello.”

Louis’ eyes flickered open. His mouth fell open slightly. “Thank you,” he blushed.

"This is a beautiful town. I'm glad we moved here Di." Dill simply nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should have a welcome party, you know, get to know our neighbours."

"That's a great idea, Lou, let's do it."

Louis widely smiled at Dill then turned his head to look at their surroundings. His smile soon turned into a smirk as he remembered something that he wanted to mention.

"So, this woman called Emily came a few days ago. Do you know her?"

Dill let out a groan. "Emily Gunn?" Louis nodded. "I have kept trying to tell her that I am married but she does not listen to me. You know Catherine? Well, she is her assistant."

"Yeah, she asked for you," Louis shrugged and watched as Dill groaned again.

"Mio Dio! I have tried to tell her Louis, I promise," Dill said. He smiled.

"It's okay, it must be tough having all these people wanting you," he joked.

Louis' heart fluttered at the sight of Dill pouting. "But I only want you, Lou."

He blushed as he looked down at his lap. "We should head back now before it gets too dangerous."

Dill nodded. They quickly paddled back to the harbour where they handed their life jackets back.

It wasn't dark yet so they walked around the shops for a bit longer. They noticed the bar wedged between the grocery store and the pharmacy. After a quick look at each other, they made their way in.

Not many people occupied the pub, which Louis was glad for. Music played lowly in the background from an old record player. A female waitress walked around cleaning off the tables and serving food. They sat at two empty stools by the bar where a bartender casually wiped down some glasses.

Louis ordered himself a pint with a small pile of chips in a bowl for the two to share. The bartender, Niall his name was, immediately made conversation with them, recognising that they were new.

“You must be the new people. Lovely to meet ya!” Niall said, showing them his bright white teeth.

Louis smiled. “And you, we just moved last week actually.”

“Where you comin’ from?”

Dill decided to answer this one. “Er…we’re from Brooklyn. I was born in Italy and moved there but Louis is from England.”

“Thought so, could hear it from the accent. I’m Irish meself.”

Louis' eyes widened in joy. "That's great! Nice to see something familiar in this town."

"So you two live together then?" Niall asked and the two of them froze a little.

"Uh, yeah. We do."

"It's okay if you're together, I have no problem with that. Just nice to see some new faces."

Both of them relaxed, letting out a breath they hadn't realised they were holding.

"Yeah, we're um... we're married," Louis spoke.

Niall broke out into a smile. "What brings ya here?"

"We've had to relocate for Dill's job. I have an interview on Friday for a job so we're just settling in now."

"You do?" Dill asked.

Louis turned to look at him. "Yeah, sorry, I forgot to mention it."

Dill's eyebrows furrowed a little but he moved past it. "Well, I hope both of you like it here. It's a lovely place to be in," Niall said, looking between the two of them.

"Thank you," Louis smiled before taking a sip of his drink. He remembered something he wanted to ask once he had taken a bite out of a chip. “There is a possibility that we'll be holding a party. How about you come?”

The Irishman looked surprised. “Me? I’d love to mate.”

"Great, could we have your number?"

"Sure, let me put it in your phone."

After exchanging numbers, the two finished their food and Louis his drink before heading back home.

 

~~~

 

He was alone.

Dill had gone to work. Louis thought that he might as well go and meet his neighbours. He knew that there were a few other houses around them that they still hadn't visited. Louis wanted to go and introduce himself.

He looked outside their bedroom window and saw a house about a mile away to the right of the house. He decided to walk it as the sun shone through little gaps in the sky. It didn’t look like anything terrible would happen.

His thick black coat lay in the corner. Louis wore some trainers as well.

A few minutes later, he closed the front door behind him after checking everything was locked.

By himself, his thoughts accompanied him throughout the walk to the house. The clouds above thickened above him. It began to lightly snow. Through the distance, he noticed a figure in front of the house. Louis felt relieved that someone was actually there. He didn’t want to walk all that way for nothing.

His head turned when he heard the breaking of a twig a few metres away from him. The forest beside their house looked slightly treacherous. However, he didn't pay too much attention to it.

As he got closer to the house, he noticed that the person had an axe and they were chopping wood. The sound got louder and the axe made him feel a bit nervous. The axe chopped through a log. It quickly split in half. The man had a white t-shirt, which showed off his muscles, with some blue denim trousers. He also wore brown boots. Louis wondered how he was not cold.

The man had his long chocolate hair covering his face. He wondered if he had noticed him yet. He was tall and well-built. Louis could see the way his muscles worked as he moved. He shook his head just as he stopped by the fence that surrounded his house. When the man swung his axe around and hit another piece of wood, Louis jumped when the axe got lodged in the small workbench he was using.

The man stretched his body out, stretching his head from side to side as he stood to his full height again. A small gasp escaped his mouth when his eyes met the green of the man. They stared at each other for a few seconds as the wind whipped around them.

“H-Hey,” he said over the wind.

The man didn’t say anything.

“We just moved into the house down by the highway. We were inviting a few people, neighbours and stuff. I was just wondering if you would like to come?”

Again there was silence.

“Sorry, it’s this Saturday at 5:00…If you’re coming.”

The man nodded before turning back to the wood pile he had.

“Er…What’s your name?” Louis asked, twitching his fingers in his pockets.

A pregnant pause made Louis feel uncomfortable. However, he waited for an answer.

“Harry,” the man muttered. Louis nodded.

“Okay. I’m Louis. I’ll see you there if you’re…coming,” Louis frowned, his mouth twisting to the side before walking back towards his home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooo.
> 
> What do you think of Harry so far?
> 
> Stay tuned for more...
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here is another chapter.
> 
> Please leave a comment or something even though I appreciate your kudos.
> 
> Happy reading!

The party had started. Most of the people they had invited were there. Only Harry and Catherine hadn’t arrived. Dill didn't want Emily to come. Louis only snickered in response. He didn’t mind who came or not. However, it would be sad not to get to know his neighbours. 

Louis stood by his husband next to the fireplace. Verlee had joined them, holding a glass of wine in her hand.

“You have such a beautiful house.”

Both of them smiled at her compliment. “Thank you so much,” Louis replied.

“It was no thanks to you as well Verlee, you helped us a lot.”

Verlee smiled at them. “It is the least I could do guys honestly, you’ve helped me so much.”

The doorbell rang and Louis went to get it. He slipped away from Dill’s side and went to the door. A few people stopped him along the way but he had to keep the conversations short.

As soon as it opened, a cold gust of wind blew into the house and he winced slightly. Once he looked back up, he noticed Harry staring down at him with a blank look on his face.

A smile broke out on his face. He felt happy that Harry showed up, mainly because he didn’t expect him to come.

“Harry, hi, nice to see you. Please, come in. Just um…take your shoes off.” Harry took off his walking boots and lay them beside the other shoes. “Let me take your jacket.”

“No, I’m fine,” Harry answered as he looked at other people in the room.

Louis frowned, staring down at his hands for a second before remembering to close the door behind Harry.

“Er…There’s some food over there but this is my um... This is Dill,” Louis muttered as he walked them towards his lover and Verlee. “Dill! this is Harry, one of our neighbours, he’s just down the road from us.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Harry,” Dill smiled, holding his hand out to the man. Harry only nodded before holding out his hand. Louis’ eyes flickered between the two as they shook hands. Louis twisted his hand around the wine glass he had.

“I’ll get him some food,” Louis said. Dill nodded.

A hand rested on his shoulder. He jumped a little at the touch. His head whipped around to see who it was. Once he realised who it was, he relaxed a little. It was Dnias.

“Where is the bathroom?” he muttered.

“Upstairs and it is the first left.”

Dnias nodded before going to the stairs. His head turned back to Harry who stood beside him. Louis remembered the task he had at hand. He took him towards the food they had prepared.

“You’re not allergic to anything are you?” Harry shook his head while he looked over the range of food. “That’s good. You want a drink or anything? Beer? Juice? Water?”

“Beer will be fine.”

Walking through the small group of people, Louis went to the fridge and grabbed a beer. On the way back, he was stopped a few times for a few seconds by different guests. Eventually, when he got back to Harry, he handed him the beer. Louis smiled when he thanked him.

“There seem to be no forks left,” Harry muttered.

Louis’ head turned to look at the table. Indeed there were no forks. “So sorry, I’ll get one for you.”

Again he hurried to the kitchen and collected some forks and knives. When he got back to Harry, the doorbell rang again. He groaned as he put his glass down and gave a fork to Harry.

When he opened the door, he saw Catherine standing there. Louis' smile faltered a little once he noticed who was next to her.

“Hey, Catherine and, hi... Emily."

“I tried to stop her," Catherine whispered. Louis shrugged.

"It's alright, come on in. Have a drink and get some food. Just…yeah, knock yourself out,” Louis said before watching as Emily slipped her shoes off and shouldered past him.

Catherine smiled in pity and put a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be okay, I know what she is like. Don’t let her get to you.”

His head turned to Dill and saw the way he had a grimace on his face while he talked to Emily.

“She must forget that we are married.”

Catherine chuckled as she stepped inside, taking off her black boots and leaving them by the side. “You make a lovely couple,” she grinned before looking behind Louis’ shoulder. “Oh! I didn’t expect to see Harry here, I haven’t seen him in ages.”

Louis watched as Catherine walked over to Harry. The two shared a hug. For some reason, a pang of jealousy seeped through him. He instantly shoved it away. There was no need for him to feel jealous at all. When his gaze flickered over to Dill, who seemed to be looking back at him and begging for help, he quickly closed the door. Time to save his husband.

“Hey, Di.”

“Lou! So good to see you,” Dill muttered, feeling a bit relieved to see him. They shared a quick hug before turning back to face Emily and Verlee. Dill wrapped a hand around his waist and pulled him a bit closer. Both Louis and Verlee smirked at each other when they saw Emily with a deflated look on her face.

“Yeah, I was just helping everyone with settling in. I can finally relax for a bit now that everyone is here.”

“Great!”

Their conversation lasted for another minute or two before he felt a tap on his shoulder. When he turned around, he didn’t expect to see Harry there.

“Is something wrong?” Louis questioned.

Everyone’s attention in the small group was on him. However, Harry kept his gaze on Louis.

“The man you sent to the bathroom hasn’t come back yet. I don’t know if you want to check on him.”

Louis looked at Dill before talking. “Hey, I can go and check it out. I don’t mind.”

“You’ve been so busy Lou, it is the least that I could do,” Dill replied, more like pleaded.

“Di, it’s fine I can do it,” Louis smirked. “Emily and Verlee can keep you company while I’m gone.”

“Oh, I think I heard someone calling me actually, I’ll go and see who it is,” Verlee answered before slowly stepping away.

Louis felt like laughing when he saw the hurt and betrayal in Dill’s face as he walked towards the stairs. He shared a fist bump with Verlee then took the wooden stairs up to the second floor.

The silence felt strange as he walked toward the bathroom and gently knocked on the door. Louis frowned when the door pushed open. He noticed that no one was inside. Instantly, he went to check through the bedroom before going to their own and seeing Dnias looking through their room.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Louis questioned, immediately frowning when he saw him close a drawer. Dnias simply stayed silent as he looked at Louis with a slight hint of disgust. “Can you go downstairs now.”

Louis only watched as he stormed past him and walked down the stairs. He shook his head as he stood there in disbelief. Why would he do that? He spent five minutes checking that nothing had gone. When Louis was done, he heard more footsteps coming up the stairs.

“You and Verlee are both evil, you know that? It took me so long to get away from her,” Dill sighed as he walked up to Louis. It took him a second to notice the frown on Louis’ face. “Angelo, why are you sad?”

“Dnias, h-he was looking through our stuff.”

Dill looked at Louis then held his face in both of his hands. “That must be why he left.”

“Why would he do that?” Louis muttered. Dill pressed a kiss to his lips.

“I don’t know," he said, stroking a hand through his hair. "I’ll ask him when I next see him.”

Louis nodded, sighing as he relaxed into Dill’s body. “Thank you.”

“Come on, everyone’s missing you downstairs. Andiamo.” Louis chuckled before nodding and following him out of the bedroom. “And this time you are not leaving me alone.”

 

~~~  


Louis felt close to death. Exhausted wasn’t even a word to describe how he felt. Verlee had come over and wanted to stay until around 11:30. It wasn’t even that late. However, the tiredness had finally caught up with him.

It was a few weeks later. They felt like they had finally settled into their new home. Louis found a new job at the local grocery store. It would only be something temporary before he found another job. He had an English degree. However, he didn’t really know what he could do with it yet.

The shower ran in the ensuite as Dill occupied the room. He sat on the edge of their bed, tiredly running a hand over his face. One of their phones buzzed signalling that a message had been received. Louis reached for a phone. It was Dill’s as he didn’t realise which one he had picked up. Without looking, he unlocked the phone with his thumb and went to open messages. He rubbed his eyes once more before finally opening the most recent message.

He frowned when he read the message. It was a death threat. His head flickered to the second phone on the bed and picked it up. After realising that it was his own phone he put both of the phones beside him and laid his head in his hands.

He couldn’t understand why Dill would get one or why he wouldn’t tell him about what happened in the first place. Who could possibly want to kill Dill?

“Lou?” A voice whispered and his head shot up. He hadn’t realised that the bathroom door had opened. Dill stood there with only a towel around his waist. “What’s ha-”

“-Why didn’t you tell me about the messages?” he asked, clutching the phone tightly in his hand.

Dill frowned. “What messages?”

“Don’t be stupid! Someone is sending you death threats and you’re acting like it’s okay! Why didn’t you tell me?” Dill simply stood there in shock as he tried to think of something to say.

“I’m sorry.”

“How long has it been going on for?” Dill stayed silent again. “For how long Dill?!”

“Six months,” he admitted.

Louis' head whipped round to look at him. “What?! Please tell me that is not true.”

Dill sighed. “Lou, I’m sorry.”

Louis just shook his head, he couldn’t bear to look at him anymore. “Why didn’t you go to the police?”

“I couldn’t, they threatened to hurt someone if I did,” Dill pleaded. Louis sighed in disappointment. He glanced over at him in sadness.

“Okay, but if you had told me, we would have been able to sort this out together. We’re married. You should be able to tell me what is going on otherwise how are we supposed to trust each other?” Dill stepped closer to Louis. He just looked away, holding up a hand to his face. “We’ll talk in the morning. I’m tired now. I don’t want to deal with this now. I start my job tomorrow. We don’t need this right now.”

“Lou, I promise you, that I didn’t mean to make you upset by not telling you," Dill pleaded. "I didn’t want you to worry about me.”

“I’m supposed to worry about you!” Louis whispered, his voice rising in pitch.

“Il mio ange-”

Louis’ eyes shut just as he clenched his hands into a fist by his face. “-Don’t say that now.”

A flash of hurt passed through Dill’s face before he sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“We’ll finish this tomorrow.”

Dill watched as Louis got himself undressed and changed into some pyjamas. He kept glancing back at Louis every so often while he put some underwear on. He bit his lip when Louis climbed into bed but faced away from him. It was the first time they had had an argument together in a long time. It felt strange to not be close together anymore.

“Night,” Louis muttered.

“Buon notte.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Dill is being sent death threats. Who do you think they could be from?
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all. From this chapter onwards I'm gonna need one comment per chapter because I want to know your reactions and your suspicions. 
> 
> Happy reading my Lovelies.

The next day, Dill woke up alone. It made him frowned. He hoped Louis hadn’t already left for work. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to properly apologise to him.

In record time he got himself ready for work and soon he was walking down the stairs to get to the kitchen. He felt relieved when he saw Louis standing by the sink in a pair of black skinny jeans and a black top. He wore black VANS on his feet as well.

“Lou?” Louis jumped slightly as he turned around for a few seconds before looking at the sink again. “Do you need a lift?”

He watched as Louis lifted his head to look out of the window. A thin layer of snow, only half a centimetre thick, had settled on the ground. Dill hoped that he would say yes.

“Um…It’s okay. It’s only a twenty-minute walk. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you after work.”

"It would be quicker for me to drop you off and it's on my way." Dill desperately wanted him to say yes.

"I said it's fine Dill," Louis muttered, looking at him through the corner of his eye. Dill noticed that Louis tightly gripped onto the sink. He decided to leave it.

He sighed to himself before nodding. He walked towards Louis and stopped as soon as he was a few inches away from him. Louis grabbed a plastic bag beside him and thrust it in his direction without looking.

“I made you lunch, it was only leftovers but you can have it.”

Dill took hold of the bag, deciding whether he should give him a kiss or not. “Lou, can you look at me, please? I want to see your face this morning.” Louis turned his head. He finally noticed the tears that were in his eyes. “Oh, Lou!”

Immediately, his hands went to Louis’ face. He pressed gentle kisses to his cheeks. When he tried to go for his lips, Louis quickly turned his head to the side. He only got to kiss his cheek. Dill sighed as he rested his head against Louis’ forehead.

They stayed like that for what seemed like a long time. However, it was only a few minutes. Louis sighed when Dill pulled away.

“Please be safe,” Louis whispered. Dill looked at him in shock.

He wanted to say more. However, the look in Louis' eyes kept him quiet. “I promise I will.”

Louis shook his head, closing his eyes when he felt tears begin to come back again. “No, you don’t understand. Someone is possibly trying to kill you. I-I don’t want you to die,” Louis whimpered before falling into Dill’s chest.

“I know Lou, I know.”

Dill tried to calm him down by stroking the back of his head and giving him a few kisses. It worked slightly.

“Lou, I’ll promise you this, if I get another threat then I’ll go to the police.”

Louis sighed into his chest, nodding as best as he could with Dill around him. “Okay, thank you, Dill.”

“I will do it for you.”

“Please just go. You’ll be late,” Louis whispered, wiping a tear away from under his eyes.

Dill nodded before kissing him just in the centre of his forehead. “I’ll be back,” he whispered as he slowly walked back and grabbed his briefcase. Louis knew that he had a long drive to work. However, he just wanted him to take it easy, especially now that a thin layer of ice had begun to form on the roads.

“Dill,” Louis called out just when he got to the door.

“Yeah?” He asked hopefully.

“I love you.”

A smile made his whole body relax as he looked at Louis. “I love you too. I’ll see you later Lou.”

Once he closed the door behind him, he rested his head against it for a few seconds before heading to their truck that was a few metres away.

 

~~~~

 

Louis walked into the small grocery store that he worked in and headed for the staffroom that was behind the checkout tills. He had already had an induction day and didn’t need any help setting up. Abel, his coworker, already stood by one of the tills as his shift had started an hour earlier than Louis’.

“Morning Abel,’ Louis smiled, keeping the staffroom door open while he talked to him.

Abel’s head turned to look at him and he to broke out into a smile. “If it isn’t my favourite man in the whole town. You’re lookin’ good today.”

“Abel, you know I’m married right?” Louis smirked as he put his lunch in his locker.

He chuckled to himself when he heard Abel sigh. “Yes, unfortunately.”

“I could find you someone that you can call your own. That isn’t, you know, already taken,” Louis replied as he raised an eyebrow. He closed the staffroom door behind him as he slipped his apron on and made sure to fix his tag.

Abel shook his head. "Not in this town you won't."

He shrugged in response. "You never know. Could be someone out there."

“I may have to take you up on that,” he sighed.

“Abel, you’re a good guy. I know you are. You're a handsome one too. There is no reason why you could not find someone for you.”

“Aww, thanks Lou,” he just rolled his eyes. “I guess you are right, I just have to find the time.”

Louis looked at Abel with a sad smile. “I still don’t know how you do it. Working by the harbour and as a cashier. You must be so busy.”

Abel huffed. “Yes, I am.”

Their conversations always lasted until a customer would come to either of their tills. After two hours, Abel popped into the staffroom for a quick break while Louis stood at his till. Eventually, a customer came. To his surprise, it was Harry.

In the short time of knowing him, he had noticed that Harry had begun to open up to him. They were friends, to say the least. It probably helped that he had come to the party. After Dill and Louis came downstairs, he went round to talk to all the guests. Last came Harry who was by himself for a few minutes as Catherine and Jonathan, a friend of Harry's as it turns out, had gone to see other people. In the ten minutes they spent talking to each other, Louis learnt some new things about the town and Harry. He had only lived in Mahone Bay for around five years, having moved when he was twenty. He worked as a woodchopper with Jonathan, who collected the wood for him and had been one for a few years now.

“Hey, Harry. Nice to see you!” Louis smiled as he watched Harry put his basket on the table.

Immediately he began to scan and pack his items into a bag. He froze for a second when he saw the axe before looking up at Harry. “I know this may be tedious. However, I’m gonna have to see ID.”

Harry nodded as he fished through his pocket to bring out his wallet and showed him his driver’s licence.

“Thank you,” Louis smiled up at him, not noticing that Abel had come back now and was watching their communication.

“How long have you been working here?” Harry muttered once Louis had finished packing everything.

“I started today actually,” Louis replied as he tapped a few buttons on the screen.

“You like it?” It didn't take long for Louis to think of an answer. Nothing bad had happened yet.

He nodded, showing Harry the total on the screen. “Yeah, so far. I have a nice coworker, so that’s good.”

"I'm right here you know," Abel scoffed.

"I said something nice!" Louis giggled before rolling his eyes.

Harry nodded as he paid for everything. “Thank you,” he muttered when Louis handed him his things.

“Have a nice day.”

“And you,” Harry replied before walking off.

The silence was interrupted by Abel’s voice. “I didn’t know that you talked to Harry?”

“Oh, we only started when he came to the party. I didn’t think that he would come you know but he did and yeah, it just happened.”

“Interesting.”

Louis frowned at his words before turning back to his till. “What do you mean?”

“Does Dill know that you talk?”

Louis’ frown deepened. “What are you implying?”

Abel shrugged his shoulders as he took a sip from his water bottle. “Nothing, nothing, I promise.”

Louis raised an eyebrow at him. “Honestly Abel, it’s just talking. I don’t go out of my way to talk to him you know.”

“I understand, it’s okay. It's just he rarely talks to anyone. I don't think I've had a conversation with him at all." Louis raised an eyebrow at his words. "Sorry, I guess I’m just trying to talk.”

Louis smiled. “No, it’s fine.”

When it came to his turn to take a break, Louis went to his locker and said a quick goodbye to Abel when he got to the counter.

Just as he turned down one of the aisles, he gasped when he noticed Dill standing there.

“Dill? What are you doing here?”

Dill jumped as he noticed Louis. He broke out into a smile that soon fell a little. “Hey, Lou.”

“Hey, I was just going for my break. How are you?” Louis asked. He stepped a bit closer and noticed that he looked slightly pale.

“I’m fine, I just left work. I’m going home now actually.”

“You’ve finished?”

“Yeah, I got let off early.”

Louis nodded but felt a bit discomforted. Their conversations were never this awkward. “Come to lunch with me,” he breathed.

“I’ve already eaten Lou but I’ll sit with you.”

Louis gratefully smiled. “Thank you.”

Dill only nodded before holding his hand out to Louis. He could still see a bit of hesitancy and worry in Dill’s eyes. It made Louis feel uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong? Why are you looking like that?” Louis asked with a frown as he linked their hands.

“Sorry, work has just drained me a bit.”

“Well, you can come and sit with me outside then. I don’t have much time.”

Ten minutes later and they were sat by the sea on a bench where Louis ate his sandwich. As usual, the streets were empty so no one noticed them. They were both wrapped up in warm clothes as the snow made it extremely cold. The coldness didn’t take away from the beauty of the bay as even with light snow over it, it still was breathtaking.

Louis turned his head to Dill just after he took a bite out of his sandwich. He frowned when he saw how pale Dill looked as he stared at the sea.

“Di, what’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing, I just feel a bit sick.”

He frowned. “Oh, okay. We can get some medicine from the shop if you want. I don’t want it getting too serious.”

“Lou, it’s okay. I’ll be fine. I’ll just have some tea then go to bed. Okay?”

Louis nodded as he linked one of their hands. “Alright,” he whispered.He looked around for a second before leaning in to kiss him. After only a few seconds, Louis slipped his tongue into Dill’s mouth and kissed him for a few more seconds.

“I love you okay, I’m sorry for how I acted yesterday,” Louis sighed.

“You had a valid reason, Lou, I should have told you.”

Louis only nodded before pulling out his phone and noticing the time. “Oh! I have to go. I’ll see you later Di.”

“Bye Lou,” Dill muttered, watching as Louis took the road back to his workplace.

It was only then that he felt eyes on him. His head quickly turned around to see who it was. Dill noticed Dnias staring at him just before his head turned back to the boat he worked on. Dill just decided to ignore it. Instead, he headed towards their car that he left down the road.

 

~~~

 

By the time his shift ended, he was tired. The last few hours had been draining as tonnes of customers seemed to come into the shop to buy things.

As he walked home, he felt a little uncomfortable. He didn’t know what had happened. However, something had made him feel strange. That feeling increased once he had gotten to their home.

Louis didn’t know whether to ignore it or not. However, the feeling would not go away. Once he got to the door, he fished out his keys. Louis frowned when he noticed that the house door was unlocked.

“Dill?” He called out into the house.

When there was no response he quickly pushed the door open. Louis was met by a strong opposing force. He groaned when the door wouldn’t fully open. Louis tried to push the door open. However, it would only open by a few inches. Once the door had a wide enough gap for him to open, he slipped through it.

He looked down to see what obstructed the door and he froze. It was Dill. However, he lay unconscious on the floor. His face had lost all colour. His body lay in an awkward position. Louis couldn’t make any noise as his throat seemed to tighten. He didn’t know what to do or how to react. After finally processing what had happened. He let out a scream and collapsed to the floor beside him.

“D-Dill, o-oh D-Dill. P-Please don’t be d-dead,” he cried, clutching onto the material of his clothes. He tapped his face and lifted his eyelids but it looked like no movement came from his body. He put his head down to his chest and whimpered when he heard no beats. He moved to his mouth and no breaths came out. How long had he been like this?

Louis lurched forward to the kitchen when he felt vomit beginning to come up. When he got to the sink, he threw up everything that lay in his guts. He couldn’t stop crying as he finally realised that he was dead. Louis didn’t know what to do.

He washed his mouth and the sink out, luckily no dishes were there. With tears in his eyes, he sunk to the ground and curled into himself. Louis couldn't bear to look over at his body. How could this have happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes!
> 
> Remember one comment per chapter!
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter for you. Updated earlier because of my first comment from @Harmonyangeldreamer
> 
> Enjoy reading my Lovelies. 
> 
> Again, one comment for the next chapter.

There was only one person Louis could think to go to and talk about what happened and it was Harry. He hoped that Harry hadn’t gone anywhere because he needed someone to comfort him.

His whole body felt numb as he ran towards Harry’s house. Louis' eyes were blurry from the tears. He felt the snow brushing harshly against his skin. Louis could barely stand on his own feet. He kept on tripping over them. 

Relief swept through his body when he got to Harry’s house. He wiped the tears away from his skin.

His legs were tired from having run all the way there. When he got to the door, he ferociously knocked on the door.

Louis’ breathing hadn’t calmed down, the amount of running combined with the shock didn’t help at all. He looked around in shock, breathing heavily while he tried to calm down.

The door finally opened after ten seconds. Harry stood there solely in a pair of blue skinny jeans. His chest and feet were bare. Louis' head shot over to look at him.

“Louis? Wha-”

Louis immediately let out a sob. Harry’s eyes widened slightly at his movements. He collapsed into Harry’s body as all the tears and memories came back to him. Harry hesitantly wrapped his arms around Louis’ shoulders and pulled him closer. Slowly walking them backwards, he closed the door with his foot.

Louis just blindly followed Harry as he was lead to another room. He found himself being placed onto a chair.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Harry asked whilst staring at Louis. He had put a top on now. However, he was a bit worried about Louis’ behaviour.

Louis stayed silent for a minute as he tried to calm down. However, not much seemed to make him be able to speak.

“M-My husband,” Louis whimpered.

“What? What did he do?” Harry asked again. However, Louis couldn’t find any words to speak.

Harry disappeared out of the living room for a minute. Louis frenetically followed him with his eyes, wondering where he was going. When he noticed him leave, Louis stared down at his hands as his chest frantically rose and fell.

“Here.”

He didn’t notice Harry come back. He held a blanket and a bottle of water for him to take. “T-Thank you.”

He smiled gratefully when Harry wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. Louis took the bottle of water.

“Can you tell me what happened Louis?”

“My h-husband’s d-dead,” Louis said before breaking out into tears again. Just saying it caused immense pain in his heart. He didn't want to accept what happened.

Harry fell silent as he stared at Louis who sobbed into his hands. When Harry placed a hand on Louis’ shoulder, he jumped in surprise and recoiled backwards.

“S-Sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s okay,” Harry muttered. “Did you call the police?” Slowly, Louis shook his head. Harry frowned at his movement. “Why not?”

“I-I don’t k-know. I g-guess I d-didn’t think t-to c-call them.”

“We need to go back and call them.”

Louis ferociously shook his head, pushing himself further back into the couch. “I don’t want to g-go back.”

Harry sighed. It made him frown at how distressed Louis looked. “I know but you need to tell the police what happened.” Louis stared down at his hands as he internally debated on what to do. Eventually, he reluctantly nodded. “Thank you.”

 

~~~

 

Louis couldn’t bear to see his body again so Harry went in first. Louis just went to take a seat on the sofa that faced the fireplace and stayed quiet.

Harry called the police when they were about five minutes away from Louis’ house. He hoped that they would arrive soon as he didn’t want Louis to have to deal with this anymore.

“Louis, there are hand marks on his wrists, do you know who put them there?” Harry asked before turning to Louis who hadn’t acknowledged him yet. “Louis?”

Harry’s eyebrows furrowed when Louis didn’t move at all. He walked over and took a seat beside Louis. It looked like he still hadn’t seen him. Harry sighed as he heard the sirens of the police cars and ambulances coming. He wondered what would happen.

“I feel sick,” Louis whispered. Harry quickly looked at him. His face had paled a little over the time he had seen him.

“What?”

“I need to lie down,” he muttered.

The doorbell rang and Harry continued to look at Louis. “Lie here, I’ll answer the door.”

Louis nodded to himself as he slowly fell to his side and cuddled the blanket close to him. Harry had to admit that he did look a bit cute. He immediately shook the thought out of his head before going to answer the door.

Harry gently pulled Dill’s body away from the door by his arms then went to go and answer the door.

“Hello,” Harry replied once he opened the door and was greeted by two detectives. A few officers were scattered around Louis' front porch along with an ambulance.

“We were called to this address. Apparently, there has been a murder here. Can we come in?” One of the detectives asked, both of them showing their badge. He had his hair styled in a buzz cut and he had brown puppy like eyes. The next detective had tan skin with a black beard that covered his chin. He also had brown eyes. They both wore long beige trench coats with black slacks. They also had long black scarfs around their neck.

Harry held the door open for them. The two stepped in with apprehensive looks. Immediately they both saw Dill laying on his back on the floor. The first detective raised an eyebrow.

The black haired detective pulled out a small notepad and pen, ready to write whatever was said. “When did you first see him like this?”

“I didn’t see him first. I only saw him now.”

“Is this your house?” The second detective asked.

“No, Dill’s husband, Louis, saw him first.”

The first detective, Detective Payne was what he saw on the badge, said. “Where is he?”

The second detective, Detective Malik, began searching the body with white gloves on. The detective started to interview Harry.

“He’s here. He feels sick, he’s lying on the couch,” Harry answered, showing him where Louis was.

The first detective turned to look outside and clicked his fingers at someone. Immediately a nurse came to help him.

“A man over there could be suffering from trauma. I would like you to check on him please.”

The nurse nodded before bringing another nurse with him. Harry watched as one headed over to Louis. The other helped Detective Malik with Dill.

“It looks like he was poisoned Sir,” Harry overheard a nurse say to Detective Malik.

“Okay, we’ll take him. Let’s get an autopsy done.”

The nurse looking after Louis soon came back with a frown on her face. “Mr Cecilio needs to be taken to the hospital, we might need to get an IV line on him.”

"What's wrong?"

"It looks as though he has also been poisoned. Not as severely as this man. If we don't get him to the hospital it could get worse," she explained. Harry looked at her with furrowed eyebrows.

She quickly went over to Louis and tried to get him to stand up. He looked much worse, his face was paling. It seemed as though he was shivering.

After a few seconds, she gasped when Louis' legs gave out beneath him. He collapsed to the floor with a loud thud. Her arms tried to support him as best as she could. She yelled for a stretcher and immediately someone came by the door. Harry told her he could carry him to the stretcher. She thanked him and gently transferred him over to him.

He slowly shifted his light body into his arms and walked over to the stretcher. Once he placed him down, a paramedic came to check on him.

In amongst the commotion, Louis looked calm. Some snow gently fell onto his face and quickly melted into water. Harry watched feeling helpless as everyone else had something to do.

"Sir, are you coming with us?" the same nurse from earlier asked as she stood beside him. Harry nodded. "We need to leave now."

Together, they ran towards the ambulance which held Louis' body. He let her in first and she began working on helping Louis. He took a seat on one of the fold-out chairs and stared at the house behind him. He only caught a glimpse of the detectives taking photographs before the door was shut.

As he looked at Louis, he wondered what would happen next.

 

~~~

 

Harry sat beside Louis’ bedside as Louis lay asleep. They were in the hospital now.

Harry pitied him. The doctors had found traces of Strychnine in his body. Harry felt confused as to how that happened. Who would want to poison him?

Louis looked peaceful as he slept, the tears from earlier had dissipated. However, he had small bags under his eyes. The tear streaks still remained like empty rivers down his cheeks.

When Louis began to wake beside him, Harry leant forward from his position to greet him as he woke. His eyes flickered open. Louis groaned at the brightness of the room.

“Where am I?” He muttered when he noticed Harry beside him.

“You’re in the hospital.”

Louis frowned as he looked around him. “Where’s-” His mouth shut. He scrunched his eyebrows together as the memories came back to him. “Oh.”

They both fell silent. Harry didn’t know what to say or whether he should comfort him or not.

Louis sucked in a breath before speaking. “When can I leave?”

“I don’t know. They didn’t give me a date yet.”

“What happened to me?” Louis frowned, looking at his hands.

Harry bit his lip. “You were poisoned.”

“By what?” Louis asked, his watery blue eyes staring into Harry’s green ones.

“Strychnine. It’s a-”

“-I know what it is, I’ve read Agatha Christie books,” Louis muttered. It made Harry slightly smile.

After a moment of silence, Louis finally spoke again in a shaky voice. “What’s happened to Dill?”

Harry fish-mouthed, thinking of what he could say. “They did an autopsy report on him. He was poisoned. The coroner has yet to confirm whether it has to be investigated.”

Harry watched as Louis stared down at his hands. It looked like he tried to hide the tears that came to his eyes.

“H-How long have I been here?” Louis asked after hearing the information.

“A day.”

“Oh.”

Harry paused as he thought of whether he should say anything or not. He didn’t want to give Louis more stress but this had to be sorted out.

“Louis, your house has been closed off because it is being investigated,” Harry watched as Louis frowned. “They said you can collect some things from the house. You’ll have to be supervised. If you don’t have anywhere to stay...you can stay at mine until they are done,” Harry sighed as Louis shook his head.

“No, I can’t ask that from you. That is too much. I’ll find a hotel.”

“But you don’t need to, I am offering for you to stay in my home. I would like for you to take the offer. You don’t need to put more stress on yourself. What will happen if you need help? I’ll be there to help,” Harry explained.

Louis took in a shaky breath before slowly nodding at him. Looks like he would be living with Harry for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember one comment for the next chapter.
> 
> Why do you think he went to Harry? 
> 
> Also, why do you think someone would kill Dill?
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna update tomorrow but do you think we can get to two comments this chapter?

The following day, Louis was let out of the hospital. He knew that Harry would take him back to his home. Fear shot through his body at the prospect of going back. He didn’t want to enter the house. The shock still lurked in his body. 

Louis stared out the window of Harry’s car while they drove back to Mahone Bay. They were a long way from the town as the hospital was a couple of miles away. There was a slight awkwardness in the car as Louis stayed silent. Sometimes Harry’s eyes would flick over to Louis to check on him.

“I’m sorry,” Louis muttered, staring at his hands. Harry frowned and wondered what he could possibly be sorry for.

“Why?”

Louis took in a deep breath, looking forward to the endless road ahead of them. “For putting all of this onto you. You shouldn’t have to deal with my problems.”

Harry’s head whipped over to look at him for a split second. “Louis, you have no reason to say that. Your husband was hurt and you needed help. Don’t apologise for that.”

Louis nodded before keeping silent again.

The rest of the journey was kept in a relatively awkward silence. It made Harry feel a little uncomfortable. Louis' quietness wasn’t like how he usually was, well from the short time that he had known him for. However, Harry knew how hard it was when you lost someone close to you.

The familiar sign of Mahone Bay soon came into view. Five minutes later, they pulled up at Louis’ house. A hoard of police cars surrounded the house. Their lights painted the walls with a light blue and red colour. Louis remained reticent when he caught sight of the house.

A few officers glanced at the car parking behind the other vehicles. Harry finally switched the engine off, drenching them in silence. “Will you be okay by yourself?”

Louis’ head quickly turned to him, looking slightly insecure. “Why aren’t you coming with me?”

“They may not let me inside, it’s not my house.”

“Please come,” Louis whispered. Harry nodded.

“Okay.”

Together, they stepped out of the car and trod through the white snow. The snow had stopped now. However, the cold weather wouldn’t melt it anytime soon.

As soon as they got close to the house, some officers spotted them. Harry noticed the two detectives from earlier talking to someone. It took them a few seconds to see them and immediately they stopped their conversation. Detective Malik stayed behind while Detective Payne came up to them.

Louis curled into himself when the detective approached. He glanced at the house behind him. He frowned to himself. Yellow tape surrounded the house. Already, it looked like they had put up tags in the house.

“Hello Mr Cecilio and Mr Styles, I presume you are here to collect your things. Only Mr Cecilio will be allowed in the house," he said, taking a look at Harry. "An officer will escort you while you go around the house. We can only let you into the bedroom because the house is currently a crime scene as you know,” Detective Payne explained.

Louis nodded as he stared at the white snow on the ground. Mud from the officer's shoes smothered the ground. The once perfect snow was now dusted with imperfections.

“I’ll see you in the car,” Harry muttered. Louis nodded again, not looking up from his spot on the floor. Harry only twisted his mouth to the side before heading to his car.

Louis followed behind the detective until he got to the front door of his house. The sunlight shone through to give a little brightness. Even with the light, the house was still enclosed in darkness. He couldn’t bear to walk into the house, the image of his husband on the floor still resonated in his head. Just stepping through the door made him feel miserable. The white tape on the floor had been imprinted on his mind.

“Mr Cecilio, are you okay?”

Louis gasped, turning to see who spoke. An officer stood there with a look of concern on his face. Tears gathered around his eyes without him realising. He furiously wiped the tears away from his face and nodded.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

He led the officer to his bedroom where he knew a duffel bag would be. In the next ten minutes, he packed away enough clothes for at least a week. He brought his toiletries and a few other things he needed. He grabbed a pair of his VANS to have other shoes to wear instead of his walking boots. As soon as he was about to leave, he noticed a photo of him and Dill together sharing a kiss on their honeymoon.

“Mr Cecilio, I think we should leave. The detective called me."

Louis nodded before heading back downstairs. He hoped that the next time he came here, he wouldn’t have such bad memories associated with the house.

The cold shook him a little as he exited the house. Louis tugged his coat close to his body. The detective, DC Payne, stood a few metres away and quickly approached him when he got close.

“Mr Cecilio, we will be starting interviews next week. We want to gather a few suspects before we start the process. We’ll contact you for further details.”

“Thank you, I hope you catch whoever did this,” Louis sighed, hugging his arms around his waist.

“But I’m afraid while we hope to be done soon, this may last another week while we assess all the possibilities.”

“Okay, that’s fine,” Louis sniffed.

DC Payne looked down at a notepad he had in his hand where writing was scribbled on in pen. “One last thing, we can put you in a hotel while the house is being searched. Would you need to take this service?”

“No umm…Harry said he would let me stay at his house.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Who is Harry to you?”

“A friend.” Louis could sense that he was a little bit suspicious of his answer. However, he wasn't in the mood to comment.

“Okay but-“

Louis huffed. “-Can I go?”

The detective stiffly nodded. Louis weakly smiled at him. He almost approached Harry’s car when he heard another person gasp. His head turned to the sound to see who was there. Louis sighed in relief when he saw that it was Verlee.

“Oh Lou, I heard what happened. Are you okay?” Verlee whispered as soon as she got closer and brought him into a hug.

“I-I’m coping but going back in there just made everything come back again,” Louis whimpered. “I’m gonna miss him. I love him so much,” he cried into Verlee’s shoulder.

Verlee bit her lip, tightening her arms around him. “Lou, if you ever need me you know you can come to my house. Where will you be staying?”

Louis just wiped under his eyes and looked away at the snow on the ground. “Um…Harry offered for me to stay at his place. So, I’ll be there for a bit.”

“Oh, okay,” she nodded. “I know you probably don’t want to think about it but, have you thought about the funeral?”

Louis squeezed his eyes shut before he spoke. “A little, I might do it next Sunday, If I can get it organised in time.”

Verlee smiled in pity. “Let me help you. I’ll talk to the cemetery and I’ll find you a plot. You shouldn’t have to do this on your own.”

Louis smiled again. “Thank you so much Verlee, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Verlee only hugged him before taking a step back. “I have to go. I’ll speak to you later.” She started to slowly walk back to her own car. “Call me yeah?”

“Okay,” Louis said. He smiled as a goodbye then took a seat in Harry’s car afterwards. Harry had his head down as he continued to text someone.

Once Louis had entered, Harry looked over at him once he had finished typing on his phone. “Louis, you okay?”

Louis slowly nodded as he stared out of the window. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

 

~~~

 

Louis never noticed what Harry’s house looked like inside. Now he finally got to see what it looked. It was a similar layout to their own house. Instead of an open plan room, the rooms were separated by walls. The house faced South West not North East like theirs.

The house felt warm as the central heating must have been on. He looked at the wooden interior around him for a few seconds. 

Louis slipped off his boots and left them by the door.Harry came up behind him once he had closed the door and switched on the lights. It was silent for a minute. Harry twisted his mouth in thought.

“I’ll take you to your room.”

Louis noticed how clean Harry’s house was. Barely anything lay on the floor. Everything looked placed. The floor had nothing on it apart from a rug in front of the fireplace. A few pictures hung on the wall of Harry and a few other people. They seemed like family judging by how close they were. He noticed a picture of Harry with another man. He didn't look like family.

Louis decided not to ask. He followed behind Harry while he led him to the guest bedroom. The room was small but a decent size. He liked how cosy it felt. It was more than he could ask for.

“So um…This is it. If you need anything then just ask,” Harry muttered, rubbing a hand over the back of his head.

“Okay, thank you so much… for everything,” Louis whispered as he looked down at the floor, tightly clutching his duffel bag.

“No it’s fine, I’ll just leave you alone. You can do what you want. Dinner will be soon.”

Louis nodded with a smile then turned to his new room. Harry only stayed for a few more seconds. He might as well leave him alone.

 

~~~

 

The kitchen became filled with beautiful smells only an hour later. Louis currently sat in the living room while he talked to Verlee on the phone. Their conversation was muffled. He assumed that it was something to do with Dill as words like ‘funeral’ came up.

Harry decided to leave him alone. He didn’t want Louis becoming uncomfortable while he stayed here. He wanted there to be at least a little trust between the two of them. 

Harry knew that Jonathan would stop by later to talk to him about business. He had yet to tell him about his guest.

The electric oven contained a dish of tomato pasta bake with some cheese on top. The two were still talking so he spent his time cleaning the small mess he had made. There was a small window pane in front of him. He could see through to the pale white snow on the ground. Little drops of water froze along the sides of the glass. However, the heat from inside began to melt it.

Once he had put the last dish back, he realised that Louis had stopped talking. Their call must have finished.

As dinner was nearly ready, Harry went to go check on him.

“Dinner will be ready soon,” he muttered, his voice sounding a little monotonous.

Louis nodded in reply before glancing over at Harry. It was at that moment he noticed small tears gathering in his eyes. He chose to leave the issue as it probably had something to do with Dill.

"You can stay in here if you'd like."

Louis bit his lip. "I'll come to the table."

He moved from his curled up position before heading towards Harry. Louis sat at the table with his hands curled nervously in his lap. He glanced at everything around him apart from Harry as he waited for him to finish. Eventually, he came with two plates of pasta and some salad on the side. He brought a knife and fork after and they ate in silence.

The sounds of the cutlery clashing with the plate every so often were the only noise in the room.

Harry broke their silence. "Um...Jonathan will be coming later just for a few minutes. You can go to your room if you want."

"It's fine. I'll stay down here."

Harry nodded, just as he finished with his food. He waited for Louis to finish and stared at the door to the living room. Harry didn't mind that Louis didn't eat it all. He didn't expect him to. He noticed Louis wince when Harry's chair scraped against the floor. Harry took their plates to the sink and cleared Louis' food into the bin.

When Harry heard Louis' chair move, he glanced over at him. He watched as he headed for the living room.

There was still a large pile of logs outside that he needed to clear. While he waited for Jonathan, he decided to get started on some work.

For around an hour, Louis curled up on the couch with a blanket. The rumble of a car stopped when it pulled up into Harry's driveway. Louis heard voices outside. He presumed they came from Harry and Jonathan.

The door opened and a cold breeze whooshed into the house.

Louis had been staring out the window. When he heard the noise, he looked towards the door.

"Louis! Hey! I'm so sorry for your loss, it was so unexpected," Jonathan said, looking at him in pity. A bit of snow fell off of his body whenever he moved.

Louis nodded as he looked down at the wooden floor.

"Yeah," he whispered.

"Hope you'll be okay, alright?"

Louis nodded. Both Harry and Jonathan looked at him for a bit before heading off upstairs. He could hear their muffled voices, however, none of the words.

Around half an hour later, the two walked downstairs. They were a little quieter. He could tell it was something business related.

He hadn't moved from his seat at all. Only when Jonathan leant against the door frame did he move.

"I'll see you around okay?" he said to Louis.

Louis nodded. "Sure."

That was all it took for Jonathan to leave the house. After a quick goodbye from Harry, he was on his way.

"You alright?" Harry asked. Harry leant against the doorframe. Louis nodded. He felt as good as he could.

"Yeah, I'm going to bed," he sighed. He grabbed the blanket he held and lazily dragged it behind him.

Harry watched him move as the stairs creaked. He didn't know what he could do to help him. He just hoped that Louis wouldn't become too depressed from this.

 

~~~

 

A knock on the door awoke Louis from his thoughts. He sighed as he went to go and open it. Harry had to go to work so he was left alone in his house.

An unfamiliar face opened the door. Louis looked at them with a frown. Her greying hair was tied up in a bun. She wore a black Puffa jacket with a scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. The lady had black boots on her feet along with dark blue trousers.

"Hello, you must be Louis," the woman said. She held out a gloved hand to him. Louis looked at it with caution.

"Yes," he muttered.

She calmly put her hand down. "I'm a grievance officer. You were referred to me by the police. Is it okay if we could talk?"

Louis looked down at the ground as his face twisted into anger. "No, I don't want to talk. I never asked for this."

"It's standard protocol, Mr Tomlinson."

His head shot up to look at her with a frown before it quickly contorted into anguish. "Please just go. I don't want to t-talk."

"If you ever need me you can call me on this number. I'm available anytime."

She handed him a card before walking away.

Louis quickly shut the door. He scrunched his eyes up when he felt tears begin to form. It felt strange for someone not to call him Mr Cecilio anymore. It just made the reality sink in for him.

He furiously wiped at his face while hurrying up the stairs towards the bathroom. The cold water he splashed on his face calmed him. He felt his breathing relax. Once he had finished, he stared at himself in the mirror.

He looked tired. His eyes no longer held the shine they used to, They were more of a dull blue.

It had become difficult to even go through his day without feeling pain. He always managed to be reminded of what happened. He didn't know when it would stop because he wasn't sure if he could take any more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :(
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe
> 
> (P.S. Comments have to be from two different people)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update but I would have updated earlier if I got the two comments. I've been mad busy recently and I may not be updating as often anyway but I'm trying.

The next morning, Harry woke up at around seven. The house felt eerily quiet especially with someone else staying with him.

The acute feeling of tiredness in his body lingered as he rose from his bed. He rubbed over one of his eyes. They quickly came into focus on his bed covers. He slept with only a pair of boxers on considering how warm his house had become.

He stretched his muscles out, groaning at the release of built-up tension. Grabbing the nearest top, he slipped it over his bare chest and paired it with some sweatpants.

As he entered the corridor, his head turned to look at Louis' door. He wanted to go and check on him. Harry bit his lip, trying to come to a decision. However, he ended up leaving it.

He spent some time getting ready. His shower only lasted five minutes. He changed into some low hanging denim jeans and a grey tank top. The cold stairs made him wince as he headed for the kitchen.

After grabbing an apple, he walked into the living room. However, he bumped into Louis' smaller body. He stumbled back a bit at the force. One of his hands went out to stop Louis from falling.

"Sorry, I didn't realise you were up," he said, watching Louis collect himself.

Louis' eyes widened once he looked up to Harry's muscular chest then to his face. Harry didn't miss the small blush on his face.

"I-I was gonna go to the church," he mumbled, staring down at the floor.

He almost asked why before he understood.

"Did you need a lift?" Harry impassively asked.

Louis shook his head, twirling his fingers nervously around themselves. "N-No, Verlee said she would drive me there."

"Alright." He wasn't too sure on how to carry on the conversation so they stood in awkward silence.

"Bye," he rushed out before ducking under Harry's arm and heading for the stairs.

Harry only shook his head as he watched Louis run away.

 

~~~  


Harry stood by the fridge, looking for something to eat for breakfast. The cold air brushed over his face as he picked out the eggs he wanted to eat.

Once he closed the door, he heard someone clear their throat. His head quickly whipped around to look at them. Louis timidly stood by the door as he looked down at the suddenly interesting wooden floor.

“Um…Harry, I’m going. I’ll see you later.”

"What time are you coming back?" Harry asked just as he placed the eggs on the table.

Louis' eyes glanced over at the wall to the right of him. He stared at a calendar on the wall. "I-I don't know maybe by 4 pm."

Harry nodded. "Okay, I might have some food done by then."

"Thank you. I got to go."

Harry sighed once Louis quickly scurried off again. He always seemed so afraid around him. He just wanted him to feel comfortable. The last thing he needed was extra stress.

 

~~~

 

Louis closed the front door behind him as he stepped out into the snow. He wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck while heading for Verlee's car. He paid attention to the crunching of the snow against his feet.

He met eyes with Verlee through the front window. She smiled at him with soft eyes. Once he opened the car door, he sat inside and brushed some of the snow off of him. He didn't say anything, just stared out of the window and watched as the snow fell to the ground. "You alright, Lou?"

He looked at her and nodded.

"You look tired."

Louis just chuckled to himself before shrugging. "What can I say? Something like this happens to me, of course, I'm gonna look tired."

Verlee's eyes widened a little. The car rumbled to life as she turned on the engine. Suddenly a blast of warm air blew over them. "I, yeah, sorry. I should have understood.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit stressed as you can probably tell," Louis muttered, looking at Harry's house shrink in the distance as they drove down the road.

Louis noticed a small car along with a police car parked outside of his house as they approached it. A few people walked in and out of the house. It looked as though they were searching for evidence.

Louis wanted to look away. However, the sight just made him want to know what was going on.

"Lou, there's no point looking. It's just going to make you sad again."

"You're right," he sighed, choosing to stare at the grey mushy snow which had been corrupted by the dirty wheels of the cars.

 

 

As they approached the white church, they both wrapped themselves tighter in their clothes. It looked as though it had managed to blend in with its surroundings.The wind harshly howled around them. They quickly hurried towards the shelter.

They took a few steps through the snow before they got to the church door.

The wooden doors creaked as he pushed them open. The howling immediately stopped once it closed.

The priest of the church stood lighting some candles by the altar. He must not have heard him come in as he stayed facing the burning wax.

Louis took only a few steps forward, watching the priest with his movements.

"Wait there."

They immediately froze. Louis clenched his hands into fists. He was a little surprised at his abrupt tone, making him take a sharp breath in. He glanced at Verlee who shrugged back.

Louis brought his hands up in front of him and twirled them around. They watched the priest finish up on the last candle before turning to face them.

"Come with me," he spoke.

The two hurried down the red-carpeted aisle and followed him as he made his way to another room. It must have been his office. When they walked in, they were greeted with a small painting of Jesus holding his right hand up with his left on his chest. A red cloak he wore was draped over his shoulder along with a white robe underneath. Also, a yellow halo resided around his head.

On first sight, the room was pretty plain. Some bibles and other books on Christianity sat on the shelves along with a few hymnals. A cross lay above the door.

They took a seat on two wooden chairs and waited for the priest to talk. As they waited, the painting of Jesus made him feel as though he was staring into his soul.

"How can I help you?' he started after two minutes.

Verlee glanced between the two of them and decided to speak instead. "We were wondering if we could arrange a funeral service for next Sunday."

The priest nodded just as he wrote something down on his calendar.

"Okay, who is it for."

Louis' eyebrows furrowed as he bit his lip.

"F-For Dill Cecilio," he muttered.

“Your name?” the priest asked, staring at Louis' hunched figure.

His eyes widened a little as he stopped twiddling his fingers. He hadn't even realised he was doing it. “Er…Louis.”

“Surname please?” The priest raised an eyebrow.

“Um…Cecilio,” Louis muttered. The priest only looked up from the paper he wrote on for a few seconds before looking back down.

"How much will that cost?" Verlee asked, to save Louis from having to say anything.

The two of them continued to talk between themselves while Louis patiently sat beside him.

"Thank you for your help," Verlee said and gently placed a hand onto Louis' back. "Let's go, Lou."

Louis felt thankful that he could leave. Any longer, he probably would have broken down in tears.

 

~~~

 

The stairs creaked as Harry walked down them. He paused just as he heard a knock on the door and looked up to where the noise came from. He took another bite of the apple in his hand until he got to the end.

He jogged towards the door and opened it to be met by a shivering Louis.

"Lou!" he gasped before opening the door to let him in.

Harry hesitantly touched Louis' cheek. Louis flinched at the touch. He found that he wasn't actually cold. Whatever made him like this caused Harry to frown.

"H-Hi, I'm going to bed."

Harry watched as Louis slowly walked to his room. He could tell how much he was deteriorating.

An hour later, Harry himself headed for bed. As he went to his room, he heard some quiet sobs from Louis' room. He froze, taking in a deep breath and tried to quietly walk to the door.

He pressed a hand against the wood. By this point, Louis only sniffled. It soon subsided into quiet hiccups every so often.

Instead, Harry went to his bedroom, hoping that Louis would feel a little better in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter sorry.
> 
> Can we try for two comments again?
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry y'all. Would have updated earlier but AO3 was down for me.
> 
> Thanks for the two comments! Earlier update as promised.
> 
> Let's go for two comments y'all.

It was a tough decision for Louis. Eventually, he decided to go back to work on Monday. Word had gone out about what happened. It was a small town so it was expected. Louis knew that people wanted to say something to him whenever he walked through the street. However, he felt glad that they didn’t. He didn’t know if he could deal with another pitiful look.

He kept his head down when he entered, quietly drifting like a ghost through the aisles. The draft from the frozen aisle caused him to shiver a little. A customer stood, peering at a can of food. When they noticed him, Louis could feel their eyes on him. He just wanted people to stop noticing him.

Once he got to the tills, he heard a gasp come from behind the counter. Abel immediately gave him a hug when Louis stepped through the barriers.

"I am so sorry Lou, that shouldn't happen to anyone."

"It's okay," Louis muttered into his chest. "It's not your fault."

He awkwardly pulled himself out of his grip. Louis dragged the thick coat off of his body and slowly placed it on one of the chairs lying around.

Abel shrugged. "You didn't have to come in you know."

"I think the manager would have fired me if I hadn't worked. It's about time I got off of my arse and did something. Sitting inside all day and mourning alone is not going to do anything for me," Louis said bitterly. Abel looked at him in shock.

"Okay but if you need to go home just tell me," Abel smiled.

"Sure," he muttered before putting on his apron.

The day went by slowly. Louis moved monotonously through it. He barely paid attention to what went on around him. A few customers drifted through the store. He made no attempt to converse with them.

Towards the end of the day, he felt a little more comfortable with being at work. However, once Louis had come back from his break, Dnias came into the shop a few minutes later.

Once Dnias came to his checkout, he already knew he would cause a problem. Abel's checkout was the closest one yet he still came to him.

Louis just wanted him to leave so he quickly scanned his things and packed them.

Just as he fished for his change, Dnias spoke. "Your partner deserved what happened to him."

Louis' face contorted into shock. "W-What?"

"It's what he deserved being a homosexual, I'm surprised it didn't happen to you," he spat.

Louis’ eyes widened at the harsh words that left his mouth. He couldn't stop the tears that ran down his cheeks. Abel immediately pulled him in for a hug and angrily told Dnias to leave. He knew that other words were said. However, he didn’t pay much attention to him.

“Louis go to the back. I’ll get the manager to come,” Louis nodded as he sniffled and whimpered into his chest. “I’m sorry that happened to you, how could he have the audacity to say that. Ugh, I hate him. I hate people like him.” A hiccup escaped his mouth. Louis struggled to control his breath. "Hey, hey breathe, Lou, I'll get the manager."

Louis shakily nodded, staring at the floor as Abel went to go and find them. The first thing he thought of doing was to call Harry. The phone rang for a few seconds before Harry's voice flooded the speaker.

"Louis?" Harry asked. It was rare for them to call each other. Most of the time, it was just a text here and there. He must have heard the way Louis sounded because he instantly turned concerned.

“Louis? What’s wrong?”

“I’ve had enough Harry!” he cried, staring at the door with his watery eyes.

There was a little silence on the line. Louis sighed. "What happened?"

"D-Dnias, he t-told me..." the uncontrollable tears stopped him from being able to talk.

Harry paused before speaking. ”What did he do?"

"He said Dill should have died and I should have been there with him."

It remained silent for a bit. Louis wondered if he was still there. "Let me come and take you to mine."

"Okay," he whispered.

"You don't need this. I'll be there soon."

Louis took in a shaky breath. "Thank you, Harry."

His manager allowed him to have the rest of the day and tomorrow off. Grateful wasn't a word to describe how relieved he felt to hear that.

After fifteen minutes, Harry rushed into the store and quickly asked where Louis was. Abel took him to Louis. Harry's heart pulled at the sight.

Harry frowned when he noticed the tears gathered in his eyes.

"H-Harry," Louis sniffed. Harry immediately went into action.

"Hey, you okay?"

"I just want to go home," he mumbled while looking at the floor.

Harry nodded before crouching down and taking a hand into his.

"Okay, let's do that."

 

~~~

 

Louis laid curled up in a blanket on the plaid red sofa in the living room. Harry occupied himself by taking a shower. It left Louis to his own thoughts which he didn't want to happen.

A knock disrupted his thoughts. Louis anticipated whether to get it or not. He had no motivation to move. After a second harder knock and a call of police, he immediately got up to get it.

The blanket dragged along with him. Louis tightly wrapped it around his body. He peered through the translucent window to see a figure outside.

“Mr Cecilio?” Detective Payne asked once Louis had opened the door.

"Yes?" he replied, looking at him in surprise.

"We need to take you in for questioning."

Louis fish-mouthed for a bit before sighing. "Now?"

"Yes, now."

"Okay," he whispered.

Only then did he notice the police car parked outside of the house. Detective Malik sat in the passenger seat. It looked as though he was on his phone. Louis made sure to grab his thick coat along with his boots as the snow had gotten deeper.

"Can I at least tell Harry that I have gone?"

"Fine," Detective Payne grumbled.

Louis nodded, quickly texting Harry of his whereabouts.

He was put in the back of the police car where railing separated them from each other. He was in no mood for questioning today.

As they drove, he watched the snow fall around him. It looked slightly dangerous with how thick the snow was. Luckily, it wasn't icy as well.

He just hoped that they would go easy on him because the pain still lingered in his heart. Whatever happened, he hoped it would be okay.

 

~~~

 

_Louis sat in his chair with the harsh light in the room making his skin heat up. Both DC Payne and Malik sat in their respective chairs with clipboards in their hands. Louis’ eyes flickered between the two of them. He felt marginally intimidated._

_“The time is 17:28. DC Payne and Malik are with Louis Cecilio.”_

_Louis squirmed in his seat and frowned as they said nothing for a minute or two._

_“Is it okay for us to call you Louis?” He nodded. “Thank you, we understand that you are going through a tough time. However, we still need you to answer our questions.”_

_“Okay,” he sighed._

_“Would you be able to describe your movements to us on the day of your husband's death?”_

_“Well, I woke up a bit earlier than him in the morning. We had had a bit of an argument the day before because I found out he had death threats on his phone." The two Detectives nodded, they too had seen the threats. "I was angry that he hadn't told the police. I umm...wasn't really talking to him. Eventually, he left-"_

_"At what time?"_

_"Umm...around 7:30 I think?" DC Payne nodded at him to continue. "I went to work at around 8. I walked by myself. I just did my normal shift until he came in at lunchtime. I asked him to eat with me, which we did. We sat by the sea and just ate together. I noticed how ill he looked so I told him to go home. Once he had gone, I went back to work. When I got home, that's when I saw him on the floor."_

_"At what time?"_

_"I don't really know. I left work at 5:10 then made my way home. I walked again and that takes around twenty minutes. So around 5:30 I guess."_

_DC Payne raised an eyebrow though as DC Malik took down some notes._

_"How come we received a call at 18:03 about his murder. What did you do for half an hour?"_

_Louis’ gaze flickered between the two. ”I didn't immediately call, I went to Harry's house. He called you for me."_

_"Why didn't you call us straight away?"_

_Louis bit his lip, looking down at his lap. "I don't know, I was scared and not thinking properly."_

_"Did you do something to the body while you saw him?" DC Payne asked, intensely staring at him._

_"You think I did it?!" Louis squeaked, looking between the two in horror._

_"No, we're assuming that everyone we talk to has done it."_

_"I didn't do anything?" he said, feeling surprised that they even considered him._

_"We found the drug that was used to murder Dill in your cupboards when we searched through the house-"_

_"-What?-" he gasped, furrowing his eyebrows at the news._

_"-So please, Mr Cecilio, we would like you to tell us the truth.”_

_The Detective’s hard gaze didn’t frighten him. Louis suddenly felt filled with enough courage to say what happened._

_"But I am?! You can check all the CCTV recordings where you'll see me at work. I told him that he looked ill and he told me that he was going home, there is no way it could have been me who killed him. Why would I keep the murder weapon in my house anyway? If it was me then I would not make myself such an easy target for you." Louis spoke, glaring at the two of them. "I too was poisoned because I gave him a kiss. It must have been transferred like that. Also, explain to me whether you found the phone that was sending messages to Dill because it definitely could not have been in my house. As I said before there is no way I could have done it."_

_The two Detectives looked at each other as Louis took a deep breath._

_"Did you know about the money Dill had left for you in his will? Specifically how much he put in there?"_

_Louis frowned. "No. Why would I?"_

_DC Payne slid over a piece of paper which showed Dill's will. He stared at the two of them with anguish on his face before he looked down at the paper. His eyes skimmed over the document. When they read over the figure that was in the paper, his eyes widened._

_"$5-500,000. I never knew about t-this," Louis stared at the paper in shock, his hands beginning to shake as he processed the information._

_"He never showed you this?"_

_"N-No. I never knew."_

_Louis took in a shaky breath when he thought about everything. This must have made him look terrible._

_The two detectives realised that he may not be ready for more questions._

_"Thank you, Louis, that's enough for today. The time is 17:38 at the end of the recording," Detective Malik said before turning off the recording._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is juicy btw.
> 
> Beginning of the interviews...Who do you think killed Dill?
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe
> 
> Two comments y'all


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it has been a while but I have been super busy. I hope you'll enjoy this one as it is extra juicy.
> 
> I want to put a warning but at the same time, I don't want to give anything away.
> 
> I love all of your comments by the way. I literally scream with happiness.
> 
> Enjoy!!
> 
> Can we do three comments this time?

The day he had been dreading had come.

The moment he woke up he felt the urge to cry. He stared outside the window and focused on the snow for a few seconds. It seemed to have gotten heavier overnight. He knew he needed to wrap up for the day. Otherwise, he would have frozen.

The stairs creaked as he went to grab some breakfast. By the time he got down, the hunger had left him. He just wanted the day to end above all. It probably wasn’t going to get any better.

He hadn’t seen Harry yet. The door to his room was open anyway. He hadn’t said anything about leaving.

The sound of Harry’s axe chopping wood prevailed once he got closer to the front door. Louis quietly walked to the window in the kitchen where he could see Harry working. It confused him how Harry wasn’t cold. Unlike the last time, he had a denim jacket over a white top. The snow outside looked freezing. He questioned why Harry didn’t have hypothermia.

Their eyes met after Harry chopped another block of wood. Harry smiled at him. Louis simply looked down at the sink. After a minute he turned around then headed back for the stairs. Harry's heavy footsteps alerted him that he had come inside.

“Louis.” He paused then turned back to look at Harry. “Have you eaten?” Louis guiltily looked at the floor. He shook his head. “Please eat something Lou, you have a long day. I’ll make you something. Just get ready, that’s all you have to do.”

“Okay,” he whispered. He ignored the nickname even though it made him feel a little better. Louis looked at him one more time before going back up the stairs.

 

~~~

 

The last thing he wanted to do was encounter Dill's family. Louis loved them as much as they loved him. He couldn't bear to see their disappointment and tears.

Louis' mother called him before he had left. They weren't on a good note. It had been like that for years. The distance had led them to fewer phone calls. Eventually, it just dissipated into nothing.

She stayed at a hotel a few miles outside of the town. She had made her way to the church.

As he sat in the car beside Harry, they drove quietly to the church. Once he saw the religious building he took in a deep breath. The grey sky had already dampened his mood. However, the sight of the guests made him feel apprehensive.

While they drove through the town, a singular black bird flew alongside the car for a few seconds. Louis watched as it dipped back into the surrounding trees.

They parked fifty metres away from the church. The two of them didn't immediately get out. A few people lingered outside, catching up on lost conversations.

Louis assumed most of the people already sat inside. Dill's family stood clustered together along with the hearse that had blackened windows.

"You okay?" Harry asked.

Louis didn't say anything. He opened the heavy black door, recoiling from the bitter cold. Dill's mother, Irene, spotted him in the distance. Immediately, he wanted to cry.

The closer they walked towards her, the more he wanted to run.

"Louis! Dio mio! Are you okay?" she asked. She opened her arms for a wide hug.

"Hi Irene, I-I'm sorry."

She frowned at him and shook her head in disagreement. "There is no need for you to be sorry. It must have been such a shock to see him like that. I can't imagine how you are feeling."

Louis looked down at the snow and smiled weakly. "I-I'm just trying my best Irene."

"Hey Lou," Louis jumped when he felt a tap on his shoulder. The two of them turned to look at the intruder. "I'm gonna find a seat. I'll see you inside."

Irene stared at Harry as he walked inside the church. "Who's that?"

"A friend," he muttered. "I'm staying with him until I can go back to my house."

Irene nodded. "Dill's brothers are by the car. You sure you don't want to carry him?"

Louis looked down at the snow in anguish. "Y-Yeah. I'm okay."

Her red lips curled into a pitiful smile. "Let's go inside."

They walked in together with linked arms.

 

~~~

 

The mahogany coffin had a glossy shine over it. Flowers surrounded it on either side. Louis had chosen red chrysanthemums mixed with white lilies. Dill loved chrysanthemums. They brought back fond memories of their days together.

A black and white photo of Dill rested on a table beside the altar. Members of Dill’s family carried the coffin. His father and three brothers carried him down the red aisle.

Louis couldn’t bear to look as they carried him. He already had tears forming in his eyes when they walked down.

Louis' mum sat some seats away from him. Irene chose to sit beside him.

Harry settled a few rows behind him wearing an all-black attire. Most of the congregation had an attire similar to Louis’.

Members of the family came up one by one. Their messages of love pained him. He knew the impact Dill had on people's lives. Noone had a bad thing to say about him. To hear it from others made him want to cry.

Louis continued to stare down at his lap when people spoke. He felt comforted when Irene held his hand. She did this throughout all of them until it was his turn.

Irene comfortingly rubbed his back when he made his way to stand. Louis shakily made his way to the top of the steps. The eyes of his family and friends made him nervously swallow down his nerves. He looked over at the coffin after taking a deep breath.

"As someone who has always been hopeful, I had thought I wouldn't that have to experience something like what happened to Dill. Even though we had only been married for two years, they were the best two years of my life." He glanced over at Dill's family and tried to blink away some of the tears. It took him a few more seconds to recuperate. "The happiness and love that we shared made me realise how lucky I had been to find him. He had been my rock and understood me more than anyone else could. He always listened. I-I am grateful for the support he provided me." He took in another deep breath, closing his eyes to try and calm himself down. "We didn't get to s-spend as much time as I would have wanted together. Even though this has completely broken my heart, I am equally thankful for the times we spent together." He looked out towards the congregation. "Each story that has been shared today will help keep Dill alive in our hearts and our memories. I-If there is one thing you should know, is that-" Louis’ eyes flickered over to Harry. “-I will forever love him. He will always be in my heart.”

 

~~~

 

Everyone gathered outside of the church where the graveyard stood. The cold weather made it hard for them to dig deep. Eventually, they had gotten to six feet. 

They clustered around the dugout hole with their coats and scarves wrapped tightly around their body. 

Harry and Verlee stood beside him while Dill's family stood opposite. The rest of the guests huddled around the ground.

The priest cleared his throat just after a strong gust of wind blew over them all. 

"We are gathered here today for the burial of Dill Cecilio."

He continued to speak for a few minutes. It didn't take long for him to almost get to the burial. "As said in Psalm 34:18, 'The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.' Those who are with us, I hope that Dill will be remembered in all of your hearts.  I ask that your memory of him won't fade."

The priest said his last prayer for the ceremony.

Louis held some roses in his hand along with a few other family members. When it became time to throw the flowers, he pressed a kiss to a rose and threw it into the hole. He watched as the snow slowly fell onto the delicate roses.

His brothers each grabbed a shovel and began covering the coffin. Soon the flowers were covered and after a few long minutes, they were done. Again they lay wreaths and flowers close to his gravestone. Louis lay his own bouquet of flowers on the ground and stepped back with watery eyes.

Everyone else, apart from Dill's family, had walked away at his point. Louis stared at Dill's brothers as they finally reached the top.

All of Dill's family came over to give Louis a hug. He tried so hard not to cry. They whispered words of encouragement and love before stepping away. 

The only two people left were Harry and Verlee. It was silent as they all stared at the covered ground.

"I'll meet you in the car Lou," Harry muttered, quietly stepping away from him to make his way to his car.

Louis remained impassive until Verlee put a hand on his shoulder. He finally broke down into tears in front of her.

 

~~~

 

Just as he headed back to Harry's car, his mother came up behind him. He turned around once her hand touched his shoulder. A shiver ran through his body at the coldness. His cheeks probably looked bright red along with his nose.

“Lou, baby, I’m going to go back to the hotel soon. Will you be okay by yourself? I’ll come in the morning,” his mother whispered.

Louis stared down at the ground as her hands rested on his shoulders. He only nodded, watching as the snow covered his shoes.

“I’ll see you later,” she muttered. She hesitantly kissed the top of his forehead.

Many of the other guests had left at this point. Louis just waited for Harry to come to the car. He must have been diverted. He eventually noticed him talking to Jonothan and Abel. They all looked serious. Occasionally, they glanced over at the car.

After five minutes of waiting,Harry came back. They climbed into the car.

"You ready?"

"Actually I want to go back to the church, please. I won't be long."

Harry nodded. "Alright."

Louis stepped out of the car and headed towards the outline of the church.

"Lou!" he heard someone call his name. Their feet crunched in the snow as they ran towards him. He frowned then sighed in relief when he noticed it was Verlee. "Where you goin'?"

"I just want to be alone for a bit," he mumbled, speaking just above the howling wind.

“Okay, I’ll umm…Just go. Talk to me if you need me, Lou.”

The silence made Verlee feel a bit uncomfortable, however, Louis didn’t notice. He simply carried on walking ahead towards the church. His feet felt heavy. He could just about see the white church building through the snow.

Just as he got to the white door, he gently pushed on the wooden door. A small creek resounded through the room as he opened and closed it. The sounds of the harsh wind immediately stopped when he shut the door. It turned into howls as it whipped around the outside of the building. However, it didn’t disturb him at all as he stared at the interior of the church. The flowers still lay there. The memories were still fresh in his mind.

Louis wrapped his coat tighter around his body as the church now had a cold chill running throughout. The draft could be felt by his feet as he slowly paced down the aisle. The empty pews and the stained glass windows cast ghastly shadows onto the red carpet.

Louis stopped when he got to the steps that led to the altar. He stared at the candles that burnt no more. The small glimmer of light that shone through the east-facing window lit up his face. His eyes slipped closed while he folded his arms over each other.

After a few minutes, he sat down on the stairs and lay his head on his knees.

His head only lifted when the church door creaked open. He just about saw the figure by the door. It was Harry. He didn’t greet Harry or anything, he only looked at the red floor. The small threads in the carpet had suddenly become interesting to him.

He heard Harry’s footstep. After a few seconds, he saw the edge of his boots in his peripheral vision.

“The Priest told me to get you. We have to go.”

Louis nodded to himself, shakily taking a breath after.

Ten seconds later, Louis noticed Harry sitting beside him in the corner of his eyes. He only saw his legs covered by his black suit pants.

“I once lost someone,” Louis’ head slowly turned to look at Harry when he spoke through the silence. The wind had calmed down now and he waited patiently for Harry to continue. “He had been my boyfriend for two years. His name was Aidan. I thought that he was the one. I guess God didn’t think so.”

“What happened to him?” Louis quietly asked.

He watched Harry’s jaw harden when he asked the question. Harry continued to talk even though he went to stop him. “I was on my way to propose to him at his workplace. Aidan worked as a waiter in a small cafe. Just as I left work to go and see him, I got a call from a friend of mine who told me that the cafe was on fire.”

Harry stared down at his hands with a massive frown on his face.

“Y-You don’t have to continue if you want,” Louis said. He could see that the memories still painfully resided in him.

He cleared his throat, wiping his nose just as he sniffed.

“No, it’s fine,” he muttered before taking a deep breath. “I went there. I saw that the cafe actually was on fire. Most people had come out. Aidan happened to be the one trapped inside. I think that I’m just annoyed I couldn’t tell him I loved him before…”

Louis reached over to hold Harry’s hand and weakly smiled at him. Harry’s eyes flickered from his hands, up his body and then he met his eyes. Louis noticed the way his eyes became watery. He frowned to himself. Obviously, he hadn’t gotten over the trauma.

“His parents. They hate me, they won’t even look me in the eye. I think they blame me for what happened,” Harry said as he looked at their linked hands.

“They have no reason to blame you,” Louis muttered. “You were probably just as upset as them.”

Harry just sighed. Louis wanted to do something to stop him from feeling upset. He placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder after switching the hand he held. Louis looked up at him.

Their eyes stayed locked together as they tried to search their faces for any emotion.

Harry’s eyes flickered down to his lips. Louis’ breath hitched. He didn’t know what would happen now. However, he felt nervous. He had felt a little bit of tension between the two of them over the past couple of days. Louis decided not to say anything.

Before he knew it, Harry closed the short distance between them. Their lips had joined in unity. Louis felt tentative at first. However, he soon relaxed into the kiss. His soft lips brought him slight comfort. His kiss almost felt like Dill’s. However, he immediately threw that thought to the back of his mind. This was not the time to think about him.

His thoughts quickly made him kiss Harry a bit harder. Both of their heads tilted to deepen the kiss. Harry slowly pushed his tongue along the bottom of Louis’ lip. Eventually, Louis let him in. The kiss managed to distract Louis along with the howling wind outside. A gentle hand rested against his right cheek. Harry began rubbing his thumb along his cheekbone.

“We should go back,” Harry muttered against his lips. Louis nodded.

“O-Okay.”

They both stood up, Louis wiping away a tear he hadn’t noticed before. Louis didn’t know what else to say while they walked along the aisle. The scarf around his neck had loosened so he tightened it along with his coat.

The cold air shook Louis when Harry opened the church door.

"Thank you for sharing that with me, you didn't have to."

"It's okay, it's nice to have someone to share things with."

 

~~~

 

When they finally got back to Harry’s house, Louis awkwardly stood by the doorway. The journey took longer as the snow hadn’t all been cleared yet. It became difficult to drive in. The car almost got stuck at one point. Luckily, they could get out.

Just as Louis entered the living room, Harry bumped into him and steadily held his shoulders to prevent him from falling.

“Lou, you okay?” Harry asked, his expression unwavering.

Quickly, he looked at Harry from his gaze on the floor and nodded. “Y-Yeah. I’m fine.”

Louis took in a deep breath before exhaling quietly. Slowly, he leant forward until his head rested on Harry’s chest. It took a few seconds for Harry to wrap his arms around Louis’ body. Eventually, he removed the little bit of hesitancy from his body.

They stayed wrapped in each other’s body for a few minutes. The silence lasted the whole time. Louis only felt the comforting rising and falling of Harry’s chest as he listened to his heartbeat. His heart seemed to be beating moderately hard. However, it did help to calm him down.

Louis slowly lifted his head up from his chest when Harry started rubbing his back comfortingly, if not slightly awkwardly. His eyes still had tears residing in them. It made his eyes seem like they sparkled. It took only a few seconds of gazing and face reading for their lips to gravitate towards each other.

Their kiss started slow. Eventually, Louis leaned into Harry’s body.

His hands shifted to Harry’s waist. He slightly tilted his head to the side. A quiet moan escaped him when Harry slipped his tongue inside of his mouth. He only noticed when his back hit the wall, that Harry had walked them backwards. Harry’s hands raised to his face and carefully held both his cheeks.

It didn’t take too long before Harry had hitched his body further up until his legs were around his waist. Louis moaned when he slipped his arms around Harry’s neck. Harry’s hips slowly ground into Louis which emitted noises from the both of them.

Harry hurriedly took Louis up the stairs, blindly but carefully leading him towards the bedroom. A small sound came out of Louis’ mouth when Harry placed him on the ground. Harry’s hands roamed his body, ridding Louis of his jacket and beginning to unbutton his shirt.

When he had shucked off most of his clothing, Louis began on Harry. His enchanting lips drifted over his neck. Louis’ hands instantly went to his long hair.

“H-Harry,” he whispered.

“Yeah,” he replied from the crevice of his neck.

Louis’ blue eyes focused on the wall behind Harry. “What a-are we doing?”

His chocolate hair brushed against Louis' face as his head lifted from his spot, pressing kisses onto his face along the way. “Whatever you want.”

Louis’ gaze turned to the muscular chest in front of him. What did he want?

One of his hands slid down to Harry’s bicep. He slowly pulled them back towards the bed. It wasn’t until they both lay with bare chests on the bed that Louis began to feel a little apprehensive.

“Are you okay with this?’ Harry whispered. Louis paused.

Was he okay? He trusted Harry now. Louis felt like there was at least some type of feeling between the two of them. However, he did feel guilty. They’d just come back from Dill’s funeral. Already he had turned to Harry.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Harry nodded once then slowly leant in to kiss him again. There wasn’t any hesitation between the two of them when they fully undressed each other. Once Harry had leant over to go and grab some lube and condoms, Louis stared at his muscular body. The way his muscles rippled as he lay over him made Louis want to touch him. He rested his head back and stared at the ceiling.

Within a few seconds, Harry hovered over his body again. A gasp escaped him when he felt an intrusion at his hole. Louis' hands went up to grip Harry's shoulder as a reaction. Harry took care of his body as he slowly went up to three fingers. He lay with his eyes closed, trying to relax.

"You okay Lou?"

Louis quickly nodded. His eyes flickered open. He didn't know if he was in all honesty. However, he wanted to do this. His hard dick lay on his stomach and leaked a little precum.

He must have zoned out a little, his thoughts consuming his mind. He felt Harry press against his hole. Louis gasped just when he pushed into him. A whimper escaped him when he noticed the size of him. Louis tightly held onto his biceps while he went deeper.

"H-Harry," he whispered. He was fully buried within him. It felt amazing.

After a few seconds, Harry began moving again. He slowly thrust his hips in and out of him, being careful not to hurt him.

Harry thrust deeper into him, beginning to pick up the pace. Louis' breath came out in staggered noises. His mind became blank when Harry expertly moved his body.

Their breathing became rushed when Harry went faster. He moaned, turning his head to the side while he gripped the sheets. His legs wrapped around Harry's waist. Harry moved his arms to beside Louis' head.

Just as Harry shifted his hips, Louis let out a loud moan when he hit his prostate.

He could feel the sweat gathering on his skin. It looked as though he glowed in the dim light.

"Shit," he gasped. His eyes shot open and his back arched in ecstasy.

It was at that moment when Louis stared into Harry's green eyes, the emotions finally began to hit him. They held a similarity to Dill's. He couldn't look at him any longer.

He closed his eyes just as he felt himself come close to a climax. He let out a few heavy pants. He came over his body. Harry jolted his hips one more time, coming inside of the condom he wore.

Harry slowly pulled out and took off the condom. Louis stayed on the bed, oblivious to what Harry did as he continued to stare at the ceiling. He hadn't noticed Harry clean him up as well.

"Louis."

Harry's voice shook him out of his thoughts. Louis quickly looked at him.

"What's wrong?"

Louis just chuckled in amusement. A lot was wrong. However, he didn't want to bother Harry.

"I'm all right for now," he whispered before climbing under the bedcovers. Harry watched him in suspicion. Louis simply rested his head on the pillow and faced away from him.

"Do you want me to go in the spare room?"

Louis quickly sat up and stared at Harry who stood beside the end of the bed. He wore boxers. Louis wondered when he put them on.

"No. Please don't go," he whispered. Harry nodded.

"Okay. I'll stay," Harry said.

He hesitantly got into the other side of the king-sized bed. The two laid in bed together with quite a distance between them. Harry wasn't sure if Louis wanted him to hold him so he left it.

Many minutes passed. Eventually, Louis fell asleep. Harry wasn't too far behind him with many thoughts running through his mind. He didn't know what tomorrow would be like but he decided to just leave it. He just hoped that nothing would change between them.

 

~~~

 

_"The time is 14:23. Emily Gunn is with DC Payne and Malik."_

_Emily huffed as she shifted in her seat. She wore a thick black coat and sunglasses rested in her hair.She also had a pair of brown knee length boots on over her blue skinny jeans. "How long is this gonna be?"_

_"It'll be quite short if you answer our questions," DC Payne said with a smile. He glanced down at the notepad in front of him. "What's your relation to The Cecilio's?"_

_"I am the assistant to Catherine Carter, I work as an estate agent. I helped to sell their house to them."_

_He nodded. "Okay, can you tell us of your whereabouts on the day of the murder."_

_She sighed before looking at them with tired eyes. "I was working all day. I happened to see Dill and Louis go for lunch or whatever."_

_"And what time was that?"_

_"I don't know, I was on my lunch break so between 12:30 and 1:15."_

_"From asking other witnesses, we have been made aware that you have tried to flirt with Dill on many occasions."_

_She chuckled at the sentence. "I never understood why he wanted to waste his time with someone like him when he just could have had me."_

_DC Payne raised an eyebrow. "So you were jealous?"_

_"If you are suggesting that I played a hand in this murder because I wanted Dill or something, then I would have gone for Louis," she shrugged, staring at the two detectives._

_Detective Payne slowly nodded before looking at the time._

_"Thank you, Emily, that is all we need for today. The time is 14:29 at the end of the recording.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHHH
> 
> Juicyyyyyyyyyyy
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe
> 
> P.S. Remember three commentssssss.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though there weren't three comments, there were four in the one before so I will allow it. 
> 
> There are a ton of questions I have for y'all at the end. Choose which one you want to answer.
> 
> I'm happy that you're still reading this if you are :D
> 
> Sorry it's short, I had to counteract the other chapter.
> 
> Enjoy my Lovelies!
> 
> P.S. Three comments y'all.

The morning after, they both lay still in Harry’s bed.

Louis awoke first, staring at the ceiling. Louis could hear Harry’s light breathing as he lay on his stomach. He looked surprisingly relaxed while he slept, almost as though he had dreamt of something great.

He clutched the cover to his body, sighing as he lay his head back. Louis wasn't sure how to feel about what happened. There was one thing that he couldn't stop thinking though. He couldn't stop feeling guilty. He closed his eyes to try and stop worrying about it.

Once his eyes flickered open, he glanced at Harry again. He needed to do something.

Carefully, he tried to get out without waking Harry up. However, he failed. Harry’s face scrunched up a little before his eyes fluttered open.

“Lou, stay,” he murmured. Louis fish mouthed for a little then finally gave in to his request.

He lay back on the bed and sighed as he tried to occupy himself with something to do.

Pulling the covers further up his naked body, his thoughts turned to what happened yesterday.

A small part of him still kept on trying to remind him about Dill. As much as he tried to push the thoughts to the back of his mind, it would always nag him.

When they had sex, it hadn’t felt wrong. In all honesty, he had little regrets about the situation.

He jumped when he felt arms wrap around his waist. It looked as though Harry was fully awake.

“You think too much,” Harry murmured. Louis frowned at his words.

Maybe he was right. However, he couldn’t just ignore what was going on in his mind.

"A lot has happened," he murmured.

Louis awkwardly lay on the bed with his naked body pressed against Harry. His thoughts turned to another thing. He wasn't sure whether to mention it or not.

“They think I did it, Harry,” Louis muttered, causing Harry to frown.

He sat up and stared at Louis with a look of concern. “Who?”

“The Police,” Louis answered with a roll of his eyes. “In my questioning, they thought I killed my own husband. For what reason Harry?” Louis sighed, resting his forehead against his palm.

Harry properly sat up beside him, probably thinking off what to say.

“You told them everything you knew?”

“I mean yes, as much I could.”

Louis turned his head. He noticed Harry chewing his lip. “And you didn’t do it?”

He looked at him in shock, his face contorting into disgust later. “Of course I didn’t do it! He is- was my husband. I had no reason to murder him!”

“Sorry,” Harry muttered then looked down at the covers.

Louis just sighed and stared out the window instead.

"I should tell you that I saw Dnias by your house."

Louis' head turned to look at him. "What? When?"

"With Dill," Harry hesitantly said. "I only saw them for five seconds. This was after I went home."

"What was he doing there?" Louis frowned.

"Not sure but it didn't look great."

“I don't have time to think about this now," he sighed. "I must go, I have work soon."

Harry nodded. "You sure you want to go to work?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I need to occupy my mind." Louis muttered. “Have you had your interview yet?” he asked, turning to look at him.

“No, I don’t know when they’re coming.”

“Oh, okay,” he sighed.

“I’ll tell you when I am coming back if so.”

Louis’ eyes followed Harry as he grabbed a white t-shirt from his draw beside his bed. The muscles of his back rippled when he pulled it over his head. He watched as his skin disappeared beneath the material.

Unsure of what to do, he picked up some of his abandoned clothes and put them on. Again, his mind ran like crazy. Everything seemed to want to hit him all at once. He didn’t know how to handle it.

 

~~~

 

Louis came down an hour later. Harry had begun to worry a little because of how long he had taken. He wasn't sure if he had scared him off by what he had done. However, Louis seemed fine in the morning.

When he stepped into the kitchen, Harry turned to look at him.

"I-I don't think I'm going to work today."

Harry nodded. "Your breakfast is in the microwave."

"Thank you," Louis said sincerely. He closed his eyes before starting again. "Thank you, for everything," he muttered, looking down at his hands. "I can't thank you enough for everything you have done for me."

Harry's lips twitched into a small smile. "It's the least I could do."

He didn't mind Louis' presence. It felt comforting to have another person with him. He rarely had people over due to how isolated he kept his life. Harry only met people through Jonathan.

Eventually, Louis hesitantly took a few steps towards him. Instead, he headed for the microwave and pulled out the plate of eggs on toast.

He weakly smiled at the food and took it to the table. He sat by himself as Harry lingered around the kitchen. 

Once he finished, he placed his plate in the sink. Harry stood beside him, placing the last of the wet plates away to dry. He wiped his hands and glanced at Louis beside him. Louis stared at him with wide eyes. His lips had parted slightly.

The two stared at each other, analysing the other's behaviour. Neither knew what the other wanted. However, Louis' eyes flickered down to Harry's lips.

Harry slowly stepped closer to him with want in his eyes. It wasn't long before Harry's lips pressed against his again. He held onto the crinkled material of his white top while he kissed him. Louis' whimper seemed to trigger something in both of them.

They soon became hurried in their movements. Their lips quickly moved in unity. Their hands roamed over each other's bodies. When they separated, they gasped for air against each other's lips.

Harry's arms slipped around Louis' waist as he held him close. They focused on their movement, feeding off of the reactions of the other person. His hands quickly moved to Louis' thighs, pulling him up so he clung to his body.

A moan passed Louis' lips when Harry pushed them up against the wall. His body blossomed with arousal as they pressed their bodies together. His hands slipped around Harry's neck while he hurriedly kissed Louis' skin.

Harry's large hands gripped onto his waist. Louis felt dwarfed by them.

Only after a few more seconds of kissing, Harry led them towards his room for another round.

 

~~~

 

_Verlee sat in the metal chair with a smile on her face as she looked at the two detectives. She hadn’t been there for long, only a minute into her interview. She had been perfectly diligent with them._

_“I would like to know what your relationship with both Louis and Dill was.”_

_“Well, we’ve been close friends for a while, around four years I would say. The same time they started dating. Dill and I were work colleagues which we had been for about five years. He worked under my group essentially. I helped find them a place over here when they wanted to relocate to Canada. I just thought that they might have wanted to see a bit of my hometown as well. I didn’t think this would happen to Dill though.”_

_DC Payne nodded as he wrote down some more things._

_"Did you notice anything about Dill the day he was murdered?"_

_"No, I didn't actually. I had seen him about an hour before lunch. However, we didn't talk for long. I admit he didn't look too well. I told him to go home. He had told me that he had a little argument with Louis. I don't know what it was about though."_

_She folded her hands over the table and glanced between the two. She looked down just as she thought of something else. “I miss him, we were friends for years. Now that he’s gone it just…it hurts a lot. I can’t imagine how Louis feels.”_

_"Thank you, is there anything else you would like to tell us?"_

_“Well, I know that they never got on well with Dnias from the start. Apart from that, I don’t know anything else. He told me about how Dnias confronted him at the supermarket he works at when we were arranging the funeral.”_

_"Was it a violent confrontation?"_

_"From what I heard it was only verbal."_

_“Okay, thank you for your help." DC Payne nodded. "The time is 12:53 at the end of the recording.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So why do you think Louis slept with Harry (again) in the first place? Do you think he should have?
> 
> Do you think the police are right to suspect Louis as the murderer?
> 
> How do you think Louis feels at this point in time?
> 
> How do you think Harry feels at this time?
> 
> Do you think Louis has moved on from the incident?
> 
> Do you have a suspect so far?
> 
> Tell me your thoughts so far!
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment target still wasn't met but I guess that's aight.
> 
> Thanks to @Skylermason20 for the comment. Lovely analysis of what is happening so far.
> 
> Can we try for another three comments? Pleaseeeeeeee?

The Police had notified Louis that he could enter his house again. However, he wasn’t sure if he could handle it.

Louis wanted to walk to his house. Harry thought it best to come with him. Together they slowly walked through the snow. As usual, they walked quietly down the road. Only the crunch of their feet against the snow could be heard due to the wind dying down by now. The snow had stopped falling. However, there were still grey clouds in the sky. Halfway through Harry went to hold his hand. Louis didn't pull away.

When they got to the house, Louis just stared at the place he once dreaded to go back to. His heart raced when he saw the house. The place had snow covering it from head to toe. It looked as though there had been no traces of life at all.

They walked towards the front door and Louis shakily pulled his keys from his pocket. They felt heavy in his hand. The dread and anticipation began to get to him as he twisted the key. Once he opened up the door, he bore witness to a room shrouded in darkness. His eyes flickered to the ground. Louis took in a deep breath.

"Lou, will you be okay by yourself?" Harry asked. Louis stayed silent as he continued to imagine Dill's body on the floor. He jumped when Harry put a hand on his shoulder.

“Just come and find me, if you need help. I promised I would go and help Jonothan today,” Harry muttered. Louis slowly nodded.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before Harry leant in and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Louis’ lips parted a little at the movement and watched when Harry slowly pulled away. As Harry was about to leave, Louis pulled him in for a long kiss.

He didn't look at him once he stepped back. “I’ll call you if I need you, bye Harry.”

“Goodbye,” he said.

Harry wrapped his scarf around his neck just as he opened the front door. Louis winced at the cold air and quickly shut the door behind him. He turned his back and rested his body against the wooden feature. Louis let his head bang lightly against the door while taking in a deep breath.

It looked like nothing had changed. He felt glad that it had remained the same. However, it still brought back the memories of seeing the dead body on the floor. Louis tightly squeezed his eyes together, his body sagging down as he let out a huff.

Louis hadn’t realised that he had tears on his face. Only once he noticed his shaking body and hands did he try and remove the tears. It seemed as though everything wanted to come back to him at that moment. The trauma, the heartbreak and the fear amalgamating into one distressed emotion.

He couldn’t do this anymore. He hated it. He hated the empty feeling inside of him.

Louis stood up on shaky legs and made his way towards the mantelpiece. He gripped tightly onto it, staring down at the fireplace beneath him. After some deep breaths, he still didn't feel calm.

He glanced up at the mantelpiece. A small china vase rested on the wooden ledge. His first reaction was to throw it. So he did.

Once he heard the shatter of the glass on the floor, he felt a sense of relief. His anger dissipated a little when he saw the sharp shards spread out beneath him.

So he picked up more things and started throwing them. He tipped over chairs, ripped blankets from the sofa and dragged the tablecloth onto the floor.

Only once he got to a photo of both him and Dill, he began to properly cry. He held the photo close to his body and sank down to the floor. His eyes blurred over with tears as he laid there tired on the floor.

 

~~~

 

Two hours later he found himself at the church. Even though it was still cold, he headed inside to be at least a little warmer. This time the priest wasn't there. Instead, Louis sat on one of the pews and stared up at the stained glass window of Mary holding up one hand with a sorrowful look on her face. Some light shone through the glass onto his face.

His mind ran with hundreds of thoughts. He didn't even notice the doors of the church open. A hand was placed on his shoulder causing him to jump.

The priest stood behind him wearing an all-black suit with a clerical collar. His brown hair was slicked back into a quiff. He had grown a full beard since the last time he saw him.

"Louis. I didn't expect to see you here. Is there anything I can help you with?" the priest asked, tilting his head to the side.

He stared down at his hands. "C-Can I talk with you?"

The priest nodded. "I can tell that you still have sorrow in your heart." Louis smiled weakly before following the man to his office. "Have a seat."

The picture of Jesus still looked at him. This time he felt comforted. His eyes flickered over to the priest. He realised that he sat there waiting for him to start.

"I don't know what's going on with my life anymore. Everything is confusing me. I don't know what to do," Louis sighed, looking down at his fingers that lay tangled on his lap.

"Getting over a loss can be one of the hardest things anyone can experience in their life. It's never easy. You shouldn't expect yourself to be okay. Take as long as you need."

"I thought that I would have been able to cope with everything. I guess I am not as strong as I thought," he muttered.

"Louis, everyone goes through trials that we don't expect to happen. It's how we deal with it that really matters. There are people that are willing to listen if you allow them to come in. This will allow you to forgive quicker instead of hold in your emotions. I understand that you may feel angry, helpless and worried, any good person would after what has happened to you."

Louis looked up at him with tears in his eyes. "What can I do?"

"I don't know what will help you. I would suggest talking to someone. Maybe the woman you came in with first. I don't know how close the two of you are. However, it may help."

Louis nodded. "You might just need a break from here. It might be a good idea to go away for a bit. You staying here may bring back too many memories for you which could be why you are struggling."

"I don't have anywhere to go," Louis sighed.

"You'll know. It will come with time."

 

~~~

 

_“The time is 15:34. We have Dnias Ladd here with us. Now you know why you’re here, we would like to start with knowing your relationship with Dill.”_

_Dnias huffed as he turned in his chair. He looked directly at the Detective before speaking. “I have only met Dill a couple of times. I saw him around every so often. I wouldn’t say we were friends though,” he shrugged._

_"How about Louis?"_

_He rolled his eyes. "I could say the same about him as well."_

_“I understand that you were one of the people who attended their welcome party,” DC Payne asked, looking up from his notepad._

_He nodded, his gaze flickering between the two. “Yes. However, I didn’t stay for long.”_

_“And why is that?" DC Malik said._

_“Louis told me to leave.” They both raised an eyebrow at him for him to continue. “I had a look around their house. Apparently, I couldn’t do that, so he told me to leave.”_

_He asked. “What did you look at?”_

_“Why d’you need to know?” Dnias defensively asked._

_DC Payne didn't say anything. Instead, he glanced over at DC Malik. "It is important to this investigation to show whether you are a suspect or not."_

_"I just looked at some of the things they owned. I don't think I overstepped my boundaries."_

_DC Payne interrupted him. "For Louis, it could have been an invasion of privacy."_

_Dnias shrugged. DC Payne sighed at his reaction._

_"Could you describe to us your movements on the day of the murder?" DC Malik asked._

_"Which day was that?" he asked with a frown._

_"Last Thursday," he replied._

_"I was at work for most of the day," Dnias sighed, folding his arms over each other._

_"Could you elaborate? What did you do before 2 pm?"_

_"I had my lunch break at 12:30. I noticed Louis and Dill by the seafront. I wasn't sure what they were doing."_

_"How did Dill look?"_

_Dnias huffed, looking away from them. "I don't know. I was too far away."_

_"Did you do anything else?"_

_"I went to their house just to talk to Dill-"_

_Both detectives raised their eyebrows. "-About what?"_

_"About what he did at lunch."_

_"Really?"_

_"Yes," Dnias spoke through gritted teeth._

_"What time was that?" DC Payne asked, a little sceptical of his answer._

_"2:30."_

_"Did anything else happen or was that it?"_

_"He looked ill when I saw him. We only exchanged a few words before he ended up coughing and closed the door on me."_

_"Did you check if he was okay?"_

_"No, why should I?" he replied, looking at them as though they had said something strange._

_"It must have looked like he wasn't okay. Maybe you would have helped him or something?" DC Payne said while sounding confused._

_"There was no need. He told me to leave and I did."_

_The two of them weren't convinced by his answer. However, they carried on. DC Payne looked down at his sheet. "You have had a history of assault Mr Ladd, specifically with another gay couple. Did you know that Louis and Dill were together?"_

_Dnias rolled his eyes. "Yes, I did."_

_“Did it anger you?”_

_“Yes but not enough to murder him.”_

_"We saw hand marks on his wrist once we got there. Where they from you?"_

_Dnias remained silent, looking at the wall beside him instead._

_They nodded, suspecting that they were right. "Thank you Dnias, that's all we need for today."_

_Dnias leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on the table. "I know it may sound like everything is pointing to me but I would never kill anyone even if they were gay. I may not agree with their...life choices but I would never go that far."_

_DC Payne nodded just as DC Malik closed his notepad._

_"Sure. That is all for now. We'll have someone escort you out of the premises. The time is 15:46 at the end of the interview."_

_The two of them stood from their seats and exited the interview room. The sound of telephones and printers working were heard once they left. Even though they were a small precinct, they all had a lot of work._

_"Diaz, can you escort Mr Ladd out for me please?" DC Payne asked a passing Detective._

_"Sure," she nodded and headed for the interview room._

_"Something doesn't seem right Zayn," Liam muttered as they walked back towards the precinct. A few other officers passed them by, some acknowledging them with a nod._

_Zayn stopped them in a corridor before they got to their desks by putting a hand on his shoulder and pushing him against a wall. "Hey, listen to me." Liam sighed. "I know this all seems a bit strange but it is nothing we haven't dealt with before. We'll be able to figure out who did it, even if it takes weeks."_

_He nodded. "Thanks."_

_"Good. Now let's get working. We only have a few hours left.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, everything isn't looking good for Louis at the moment.
> 
> Dnias be looking a bit suspect as well.
> 
> Do you think Louis just needs a change in scenery?
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe
> 
> P.S. Remember three comments


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait but I would have updated earlier if I got three comments...
> 
> Anyway, I'm a bit ill atm soooooooo......
> 
> We gone try for three comments again y'all.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter, it is short though sorry...

Louis lay with his head against the wooden wall beside his mantelpiece. He didn’t know what to do anymore. Was there any point in staying here. He felt like he had lost everything. Louis knew that he didn’t fit in here anymore.

Maybe they should have stayed in New York, that would have meant none of this would have happened. Louis would still be with Dill.

What about Harry? He thought. Immediately, he took in a large gulp of air. How could he be thinking about Harry? They barely knew each other yet he still felt like he had grown a little attached to him.

The priest's words lingered in his head. _You'll know. It'll come with time._

He didn't know if he could wait any longer.

He did have the money Dill left for him in his will. However, the guilt would probably get to him.

A knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts. Louis shakily stood to his feet. He hoped he didn't look terrible. His cheeks probably looked blotchy. He glanced out of one of the windows and noticed Verlee’s car parked outside his house.

He didn’t know if he was in the mood to speak with anyone at the moment. Maybe Verlee could help.

His body felt heavy as he trudged over to the other side of the room. He hadn't bothered with taking off his coat or shoes.

Verlee looked up from her phone once she noticed the door opened. She gasped and quickly pocketed her phone. She took him inside by the arm and sat them down, making sure to close the door behind her.

“Lou? What’s wrong?!”

“I’m just so tired Verlee, everything is just beginning to stress me out. Wherever I go, I can’t seem to stop thinking about how much I miss Dill.”

Verlee looked at him with pity. Eventually, she pulled him into a hug when she saw the tears begin to pool in his eyes.

“Lou, I know you must be feeling terrible but…I know you probably don’t want to hear this…it’ll be okay.”

Louis chuckled. "I am so sick of hearing that."

"I know Lou."

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe everything will go back to normal one day. However, it won’t now.”

Verlee looked over his attire. "Are you going out?"

"No, I just came back from the church."

She seemed a little surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. I spoke to the priest."

"What did he say?"

"He told me to take a break from here. Maybe he is right. Maybe I should just go back to New York. Everything was okay there."

Verlee frowned. "You'll be by yourself, Lou."

"Well, either way, I am by myself Verlee! Dill is gone!" Louis shouted, clenching his hands on his lap.

Verlee sat back a little and cleared her throat, not sure what to do.

"Alright, maybe you do. I still want you to be around. I'm gonna miss you if you're further away."

Louis sighed. "I know. I don't think I can see my future here Verlee. Especially with everything that has happened."

"I understand Lou," she said. Her eyes held a sad look in them as she put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm here to support you with whatever you need to do. I'm gonna miss having you around."

Louis weakly smiled before turning his gaze to the floor.

Verlee took in a deep breath. “Have the police said anything about what happened yet?”

Louis rolled his eyes with a sigh. “I don’t want to talk about it Verlee.”

"I know, I know. It's probably the last thing you want to hear. Don't you want to know anything though?"

Louis turned to look at her straight in the eye. "Do you know something?"

"No, I wish I did. It's just hard to find out why anyone would want to do anything to Dill of all people," she sighed.

"It could be anyone."

Verlee nodded. "How was it with Harry?"

Louis sighed. "Okay, I guess he was good company."

"That's great Lou, I'm glad that you had him."

"He told me that Dnias was at my house the day of the murder. They were speaking apparently," Louis muttered.

She frowned. "That seems a bit strange. Have you seen Dnias recently?" Louis shook his head. "He's been quieter than normal."

"He's definitely got some explaining to do," she replied with a shrug. "Sorry Lou, I've got to go. I can't stay for long. I'll come around soon okay."

Louis nodded, standing up with her as she headed for the door.

"This weather has been dreadful recently. It's not normally this bad," Verlee muttered as she looked out of one of the windows.

"Maybe it will clear soon," Louis shrugged.

"Hopefully," Verlee replied before looking at Louis for a few seconds. He looked away from her, feeling a bit uncomfortable underneath her stare. "I'll see you soon, Lou. Don't worry too much about everything okay?"

Louis nodded, letting himself be pulled into a hug.

"Bye," he whispered when she opened the door.

Just as it closed behind him, he thought about the words Verlee said to him. It took him a few minutes of thinking by the door before he finally went into action. He still had his outdoor clothes on so he headed straight for his truck. He had one mission in mind. All he knew was that he needed to speak to Dnias.

 

~~~

 

_"The time is 13:17. We are here with Catherine Carter. You are a friend of Dill and Louis yes?"_

_Catherine nodded. "More of an acquaintance. We met because I sold them the house."_

_"Can you tell us where you were on the day of the murder?"_

_"I was at work all day with my assistant Emily."_

_DC Payne nodded. "You also attended their party that they had. Am I correct?"_

_"Yes, I came and left with Emily. She can be a bit testing at times. However, I would consider her a friend. I know that she had a bit of a crush on Dill. I tried to remind her not to overstep her boundaries."_

_"Did she try anything?"_

_Catherine pulled a face as she tried to remember any obvious incidents. "Sometimes she can be a bit overbearing and doesn't always realise some of her actions."_

_"Did you notice anything suspicious as the party?"_

_"Not really. Well, I saw Dnias leave a bit angrily but that could have been anything. He can get a bit angry sometimes."_

_"Have you seen him get extremely angry?"_

_She looked down at her hands with a frown. "A long time ago we were in a relationship. I was going through a bad time and kinda just wanted to latch on to anyone who would pay attention to me. Which he did," Catherine sighed. "I really regret that period of my life."_

_"We're sorry to hear that."_

_"It happened, nothing you can do about it," she muttered._

_DC Malik wrote something down on his notepad. "Do you know anything else that could help with our investigation?"_

_She shook her head. "No sorry, I didn't really know them very well."_

_"Thank you for your time, Miss Carter," DC Payne said. "The time is 13:25 at the end of the interview.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think is going to happen when he meets Dnias?
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe
> 
> P.S. Threeeeeee Commentsssssss


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys.........
> 
> Why don't you talk to me? :((((
> 
> Are y'all still interested in the story?

Louis hoped that around this time Dnias would be at work. He drove his car through to the centre of town, scouting the streets to find where Dnias worked. Eventually, he noticed a spot. He parked on the main road and jumped out of the car.

He ended up walking towards the shops and carefully walked through the snow. He probably looked a little murderous as he made his way down. Louis was so intent on finding Dnias, he didn't notice someone coming out of a shop.

Another body collided with his. Louis abruptly took a step back. He stared at the person with wide eyes before relaxing when he realised who it was.

"Niall?" he muttered.

Niall pulled his coat tighter around his body once he got a hold of his keys. He was just locking up the shop when he bumped into him. "Hello, Louis. What are you doing here?"

"I was just trying to find Dnias actually. Do you know where he is?"

Niall shrugged as he thought about where he could be. "No sorry, Lou, he's probably at work though. He works by the harbour. He may not be there because of the snow." Louis hummed as he glanced over to the waterfront. "How are you doing? I haven't seen you in ages," he frowned.

The wind rushed around them while Louis thought of an answer. He didn't want to bother him. Louis also wanted to finish what he came for.

"Fine. Just trying to get on my feet again."

Niall nodded, staring at Louis' sheltered figure. "You can always come to the shop if you want. Have a drink on me."

"Yeah maybe, I-I don't know," Louis huffed, avoiding his eyes again. "Look, I got to go," he said then stared into Niall's eyes. "I have somewhere to be. I'll see you around."

Niall nodded, looking a little hurt. "Okay Lou, hope you'll be okay. I'm um...here if you need me."

"Thanks," Louis replied before walking off.

He didn't notice Niall staring at him with a frown while he walked away.

The sea had frozen over by this point so the only thing that could be heard was the harsh wind. Close to nobody was outside.

He spotted Dnias by the harbour, making his way towards a car a few metres away. Immediately he clenched his teeth. It looked as though he had just finished working. Dnias was wrapped up in a warm coat and a thick scarf. Louis quickly walked over a few metres behind him, making sure no one noticed them. When Dnias climbed in the car, Louis hurried over. He stopped him from closing his door by holding his hand against it.

Dnias stared up at him with wide eyes, looking away from his phone in shock. "Wha-"

"What did you do Dnias?" Louis asked.

"I didn't kill him, Louis," he huffed, turning further into the car as he put his key in the ignition.

Louis glared at him. "I find that very hard to believe."

"Well believe me," Dnias said.

He folded his arms and frowned. "Where were you when he was murdered?"

Dnias became impatient as he folded his arms.

"Do you want to know why I didn't kill him, Louis?" Louis looked a bit taken aback by his question.

"Yes, I came to your house which probably made me the last person to see him before he died but when I saw him, he looked as though he was about to pass out." Dnias turned to face the road. "And as much as I didn't like the two of you, I wouldn't stoop so low as to murder Dill. So please just leave me alone."

Dnias drove forward, immediately closing the car door once Louis had stepped back a little. He stared at the back of the car for a few seconds. He knew he wasn't in the right mind to talk to anyone.

The walk back to his car made him contemplate over what happened. Dnias' words stuck in his head along with all the past events. His words made sense. However, he still didn't know whether to believe him or not. If it wasn't him, who could it have been?

Louis started his car and huffed at how cold it had gotten already. When he pulled out of the parking space, the wheels skidded forward a little. His eyes widened as he tried to control the car's movement. The grit on the roads made no difference to how slippy the roads were.

Somehow he got back to the house. He didn't get out. Instead, he paused as he sat in the front seat. Louis rested his head against the wheel of the car listening to the world around him go by.

After a couple of deep breaths, he still didn't feel any better. All the pent-up emotion felt like it was bubbling up to the surface until he just couldn't contain it anymore. His first reaction was to scream, which he did. He aggressively hit the wheel of the car, sounding the horn for two long beeps.

The screams stopped and the crying began as he tightly gripped the steering wheel. His body shook violently while he cried. He could no longer see with his teary eyes.

He didn't know how long he had been in there for. However, he didn't care. His trembles soon reduced to shaky breaths. Louis rested his head against the headrest.

Instead, he focused on the cold air that came out of his mouth as he breathed. He let the tears unashamedly run down his face.

Fatigue took over his body when he reached for the car door. When it opened, the cold air rushed in causing him to wince. Even with his snow boots, his feet were still cold. It felt as though snow had slipped into some of the crevices of his shoes. His face felt as though it had gotten frostbite. Louis tried to wrap his scarf tighter around his body. However, it did not help him.

Louis didn't even know if he could make it to the house with how heavy his body felt.

It took him a few tries to use his keys in the front door. However, it eventually worked. Once he got into his house, he let out a sigh of relief. The warmth seeped back into his body. Louis was glad that he had at least thought to keep the heating on.

Louis almost took his coat off but froze when he looked out of the large window in the living room.

As he walked up to it, he squinted as he tried to see something in the distance. The aggressive snow made it difficult to see through. Eventually, he just gave up. It looked as though a figure was walking towards the house. Louis couldn't tell who it was.

Maybe it was Harry? Louis looked around the state of the living room. He definitely didn't want Harry to see the way it looked. Broken objects still lay shattered on the ground.

His first thought was to go outside instead of bringing him in, so he did. He still had his outdoor clothes and shoes on.

When he carefully tried to pull open the doors, the strong winds almost knocked him back. Eventually, he managed to slip out of the gap. Louis immediately winced at the bitter wind.

His feet seemed to move on their own accord. Louis found himself walking towards the person. Only once they were a clear enough distance away, he noticed who it was.

 

~~~

 

_"Hello, Mr Styles, we just have a few questions for you."_

_Harry nodded, glancing up at the bright light that glared upon his face. He sat with his arms folded and face impassive as the two Detectives looked at him. The room had a little chill in it. However, it wasn't like he couldn't handle it._

_It took a minute for the two of them to finish reading or writing whatever it was they needed to do. "What was your relationship with Dill and Louis?"_

_"We are friends," he muttered, tilting his head to the side._

_"Out of the two, who did you get on with?"_

_Harry glanced at the camera that sat in the corner of the room. "I never really got to meet Dill properly so Louis."_

_"Were you also at the party they hosted?"_

_"Yes. Louis invited me."_

_DC Payne nodded. "I understand that Louis stayed with you for the time being while we were investigating?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Did he tell you anything or do anything suspicious while he was there?"_

_Harry's eyes flickered over to the detective who wrote down what was happening. He couldn't see what he wrote even though there probably wasn't anything bad on it._

_"No."_

_"Could you tell us your movements the day of Dill's murder?"_

_Harry took in a large breath. "I was at work for most of the day. At 10 am I visited the grocery store. Stayed in the area for three hours as I had to talk to Jonathan after."_

_"How long were you talking for?" he questioned._

_Harry's eyes flickered between the two of them. "We went to the pub for two hours."_

_"Did you notice anything while you were out?" Harry thought back to what he did that day._

_"I saw Dill get in his car at around 1 pm, I don't know where he went."_

_"Why do you think Louis came to you when he saw Dill?" DC Malik asked. He was a little surprised that he finally spoke._

_Harry sighed. "I don't know. I was the closest person there."_

_"Do you have anything else to tell us?"_

_He contemplated whether he should say anything else or not. "I drove home about thirty minutes after Dill. When I drove past their house, I saw him talking to Dnias."_

_The two Detectives looked at each other before nodding._

_"Did you notice anything else while you were there?"_

_Harry took in a large breath. There had been one thing that confused him when Louis showed him the house. "When Louis took me to his house after he found out that Dill was dead, I saw four pairs of footsteps. At first, I assumed they were from only Louis, Dill and Dnias but they were four different pairs of shoes so someone else must have arrived before Louis or with him."_

_DC Payne raised an eyebrow. He must not have been told about it._

_"Is that all you need to tell us?"_

_Harry folded his arms. "Yes."_

_"Alright, thank you.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter murderer will be revealed.
> 
> Who do you think it is?????
> 
> As said before I will update quicker if more people comment. It's like Y'all don't want me to finish the story.
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOooooooow
> 
> I am amazed by all your comments. I'll try my hardest to update again tomorrow.
> 
> Well...Let's see who the murderer is then shall we?
> 
> Were you correct?

"Verlee?" Louis stared at her in confusion. She had never even told him she was coming. "What are you doing here?"

"Doing something I should have done a long time ago," she said. Her face no longer held the friendly look he was so used to. Instead, it looked as though she hated him.

Louis frowned in confusion at her words. He hoped whatever she would say was not what he thought it would be. "What?"

"I kinda hoped that both of you would have been dead at this point but sometimes things don't go to plan." His eyes widened at the news. Why did she want that?

"I must say, it has been fun to see you suffer," she said coldly. "Maybe it was better that you survived, the pain must have been worse than death."

Louis felt as though he was close to tears. He couldn't believe what he heard. He tried to think of something they could have possibly done to anger her. However, nothing came up. "What did we do to you?"

Verlee smirked, reaching her hand into her pocket. Little straggles of her hair blew behind her which escaped from underneath her beanie. "In all honesty, not a lot. However, it was too much."

Louis' words seemed to be lodged in his throat when he felt his breathing begin to speed up. He hoped that he wouldn't have a panic attack before her.

"Why did you kill him?" he shouted in anger. He clenched his fists beside him and stared at her with fierce eyes.

"Why wouldn't I?" she chuckled. "Dill was getting too close to taking my position. I couldn't allow that to happen, he never deserved anything." 

A strong gust of wind almost pushed him back. However, he managed to steady himself. Dill never had any bad intentions with anything he did. He just wished Verlee's jealousy never got the best of her.

Louis took in a shaky breath. "How did you do it?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Why should I tell you?"

"You're going to kill me anyway," he said.

Verlee glanced at the trees beside her before sighing. "That is true." Her cold eyes turned to his dull blue ones. He couldn't understand how years of friendship could be ruined in an instant. Louis closed his eyes in pain as he thought about what she said. "I guess losing Dill was a little sad. Although, it was very easy to get over him."

"He didn't deserve this," Louis said, staring at the ground with furrowed eyebrows. He focused on some speckles of snow which rushed to the ground.

"A lot of people don't deserve anything, Louis. This world has never been fair."

Louis took a sharp breath in. There was one thing he didn't understand. "Why kill me?"

"Now that Dill is dead, you would also get some of the shares he owns in the business. Surprise, surprise, he owned enough for me to have over half of the shares in the business," Louis realised where this was going. "I have to kill you to be able to own them. Also...You know too much. Unfortunately, I don't care enough to spare you."

A gasp escaped him when she withdrew a gun from her pocket. Louis swallowed as soon as she pointed the gun at him. Maybe it was what he deserved.

"Please don't do this," he whimpered. Verlee scoffed, somehow she had heard what he said.

"I have to," she replied.

Verlee removed the safety off of the gun. He took a few steps back. Louis turned his head away, squeezing his eyes shut. He waited for something to come. However, nothing came.

What happened next, he didn't expect at all. Someone pushed her to the ground. Louis gasped when he saw Harry hovering over her. Verlee looked up at him in shock because he had pinned her to the snow.

He felt like he couldn't do anything. Louis stood there frozen in place. His body felt heavy. He stared with wide eyes at the commotion in front of him. Harry tried reaching for her gun to pry it out of her hands. However, she wasn't moving. Verlee struggled from underneath him. Somehow she still managed to keep him away. Louis noticed Verlee begin to point the gun towards Harry. He gasped when he realised what he could do.

Suddenly, he felt as though he could use his voice. Louis just about moved his shaky legs. However, he didn't get to Harry in time. "Harry! No!"

His whole body felt numb as soon as he heard the gun sound. Blackbirds immediately flew away from them through the forest beside them. It seemed as though time froze while Harry slowly looked down. Verlee looked at Louis in disbelief as Harry groaned and crouched over his stomach.

Blood seeped from the wound and dropped onto the snow. The white snow was corrupted by the crimson blood. It soon spread out into small puddles. 

Verlee hurriedly climbed out from underneath Harry and stepped back in shock. Harry's hand grappled at the snow around him. His hair covered his face. However, Louis could tell that his breathing had become laboured. Harry's shoulders slouched down as his weak body fell to the side.

The red snow made his fingers tremble. Watching the blood seep into the pure white snow frightened him. Louis didn't care about Verlee's retreating figure. Instead, a loud sob escaped him.

Immediately, Louis’ legs crumpled to the ground as tears filled his eyes. Louis' whole body felt numb as he crawled through the snow to get to Harry. His vision blurred while he got closer. Louis' breaths came out in large pants. He could barely get a proper word out.

“H-Harry, are you okay?” He said, feeling himself beginning to hyperventilate.

He couldn't control his hands when he went to touch Harry. One of his trembling hands hovered over the bloody clothes he wore. The other covered his mouth as he tried to withhold his tears. Some of the red snow seeped into his clothes from where he knelt on the ground.

By this point, Harry lay on his back and stared up at the sky with hazy eyes. "Oh, G-God," he cried when his hand touched some of Harry's blood.

It terrified him how pale Harry looked.

Louis’ whole body shook as he held onto Harry’s shoulders. He broke out into tears. He scrunched his eyes closed, trying to calm himself down.

“L-Lou, I’m fine. P-Please just breathe. C-Call an ambulance.”

Louis gasped, furiously wiping tears off of his face. “Y-Yes, the ambulance.”

He felt for his phone in his pocket. Louis fumbled to press the emergency call button on his screen. 

“Come on, come on,” he muttered under his breath. Anxious as he waited for an answer, he looked around at the snow that was almost halfway up his shin.

“Hello, this is the ambulance servi-“ before the woman could finish her sentence, Louis had already begun speaking.

“C-Could you please come, s-someone’s been shot,” he whimpered. 

“Okay, could you please tell me your address? An ambulance will be on their way soon,” she spoke calmly.

“We're o-outside by 1452 seldom road. D-Drive past the house if you're coming from the s-southside.”

“Thank you, please keep calm. An ambulance is on their way. Where have they been shot?”

Louis stared at the blood on his body, feeling like he was about to be sick. “I-In his stomach.”

“Do you know how much blood he has lost so far?”

“I-I don’t know, maybe a q-quarter of a pint.”

“We’ll be there as quickly as possible alright? Just stay on the phone for me okay?”

“Y-Yeah.”

He didn’t even notice the cold wind against his body or the fact that his jeans had become wet from the snow.

The snow definitely wasn't helping Harry. He didn't know whether moving him would hurt him too much. However, they were quite far from either of their houses.

"Sir, do you have anything that you could put over his wound for me?"

Louis looked down at his clothes and quickly took his scarf off. "Y-Yes I do."

"If you just put it over where the wound is and apply pressure onto it, that should help with the bleeding."

"O-Okay," he whimpered.

Immediately, he used his scarf to cover the blood. Louis ignored how cold his body felt, there was a more important issue at hand. He slipped his phone in the crevice of his neck and pressed his shoulder against his face. He leant over as hard as he could, pressing down over the wound.

His eyes flickered up to Harry's eyes. It looked as though they weren’t focusing on anything. It made Louis extremely worried. “H-Harry, H-Harry, p-please keep your eyes open.”

Louis wiped his tears away again and glanced up at the snow in front of him. Verlee had gone. Anger rushed through his veins. How could she have done that to him?

"Are you close to anything or anyone else?"

Louis glanced around. There definitely wouldn't be anyone around their house at this time. "N-No, it's just us."

"It sounds quite windy. Is he covered?"

"I can't cover him, w-we're in the snow."

The woman at the end of the phone paused for a bit. "Okay sir, we are just around the corner. Keep on pressing on the wound for me."

He nodded to himself. In the distance, he could hear the sound of sirens. After a minute, the ambulance drove up beside them and parked up on the road. Immediately, a paramedic jumped out of the ambulance and hurried over to his body with a first aid kit. Two more came from the back with a stretcher.

"Thank you for your help," the male paramedic said, taking over from Louis.

Just as he was about to get up from his spot, Harry's eyes flickered over to him.

“L-Lou, don’t l-leave me p-please,” Harry said, weakly raising a hand to him.

Louis fish-mouthed as he looked at him. He hadn't expected him to speak because of how silent Harry had been earlier.

"I won't," he nodded.

Louis passively watched two of the paramedics as they lifted Harry's clothes from around his stomach. They began to clean the wound, being careful not to let too much snow cover his body. Eventually, they put some gauze over the wound. Throughout their working, he could hear them mutter about using an IV line. When he heard how much blood he lost, it made his heartache. He wondered how Harry still managed to stay awake. It took them a few tries to move Harry onto the stretcher due to the amount of noise Harry made when they shifted him.

He followed the paramedics as they carried him towards the ambulance. The cold made him feel like his whole body had frozen. Louis severely shivered while he walked behind them. One of the paramedics noticed his behaviour. Once he got to the ambulance, they handed him a space blanket.

Louis sat silently in the back of the ambulance, staring at his shaking hands. The paramedics hurried to hook Harry up to an IV line before they drove off. Harry lay still but he was still breathing.

"Are you okay?" one of the paramedics asked.

Louis glanced up at the man and didn't know what to say. His thoughts were muddled and his emotions were all over the place. It took him a while but he nodded once at him. The paramedic looked at him, unsure of what to do. Instead, he slipped past the stretcher and went to help Harry.

Even with everything that was going on, he just hoped that Harry would be okay. Louis couldn't bear to face another loss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't expect that.
> 
> Did you think it would be Verlee? Do you understand why she went into all that trouble just for some money?
> 
> Do you think Harry will be okay?
> 
> Thank you again for all your comments. 
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all only two more chapters left after this.
> 
> I was thinking, should I write an extra chapter that focuses on Dill's death from his point of view.
> 
> Let me know y'all
> 
> You guys are all such lovely people honestly.
> 
> Can we do three comments?

Sometimes new beginnings don't bring happy endings. Louis always looked for the silver linings in any situation he was in. He thought that life wouldn't be able to throw anything worse at him. Here he was, sitting in a hard chair watching Harry lay unconscious on a hospital bed. Louis wished that life would let him have a break.

The chair had already become uncomfortable. However, he didn't care anymore. It could never match the pain he felt in his heart. Louis sat curled up in the small seat, resting his head in the palm of his hand. It had been many a few days since they had gotten here. They had already operated on him and managed to get some of the bullet out of him. Luckily, it had avoided his spine by a few centimetres and didn't take long to remove. Unfortunately, his body had gone into shock. Harry hadn't woken up for the time being. He still had a heartbeat and could breathe which was good.

As much as he tried not to, he couldn't stop thinking about the things that had happened. Louis couldn't believe that Verlee would betray him. It made him think of who he could actually trust around him.

Many nurses and doctors walked past the room they were in. It had been two days. Louis wanted someone to tell him some good news.

However, the two days he had to himself gave him enough time to think about what he wanted to do. Louis didn't know what was left for him in this town. Ever since he arrived, his life had gone downhill.

Louis hadn't properly stopped crying. He hadn't even gone home yet. Luckily, the nurses were kind enough to let him stay. His mind never seemed to stop thinking. It constantly frustrated him.

Louis felt completely drained. The only thing that kept him together was the fact that Harry was still alive. At least one part of his life was okay.

His stomach grumbled for the third time that day but he ignored it. He hadn't eaten once over the two days.

"You should eat something," he heard a voice say.

He lifted his head from where he rested it and turned to look at the bed.

Harry lay with his eyes closed and his left hand over his stomach. The IV line was still connected to his hand. His breathing had evened out. His eyes flickered open to stare at the ceiling above him.

"I don't feel like it," he replied before turning back to his original position. Harry took in an uncomfortable breath, wincing at the pain in his abdomen. He glanced at Harry's shifting body. "Are you okay?"

"I could be better," Harry answered with a groan.

Louis sighed, closing his eyes for a second. Eventually, he got out of his seat and took a seat on Harry's bed. His body ached from being in such a cramped up position.

At first, he couldn't look into his eyes. For some reason, he felt guilty for what happened to Harry.

"I'm sorry," Louis whispered.

Harry's eyebrows furrowed minutely as he stared at Louis. "Why?"

When he met eyes with Harry he took in a deep breath. "For letting this happen to you."

Harry frowned. "It would have been me or you Louis."

Louis hesitantly snaked a hand towards Harry's and gently squeezed it. "It would have been better if it was me."

"Louis!" Harry replied. He sounded surprised by his answer.

"You shouldn't have gotten involved with my problems. You shouldn't be here," Louis muttered.

"No Louis, I don't regret helping you," he sighed.

He glanced over at Harry with guilt in his eyes. No matter what, he would always feel responsible for what happened. "You're hurt because of me."

"You would have been dead Louis if it wasn't for me."

Louis groaned. "Well, maybe it should have happened to me then!"

Harry stared at him with an impassive look. It made Louis curl in on himself.

There was a long pause before Harry spoke again. "How long do I have left in here?" He asked.

"I don't know. They said a week at most but you're going to have to have bedrest when you get back home."

Harry slowly nodded as he turned his head to look at all the equipment he was hooked up to.

"What are you going to do?" Harry questioned, not looking at him.

Louis sighed and stared up at the wall in front of him.

"I don't...I," Louis didn't know whether to tell him. It wasn't exactly the right mood.

"You can stay with me," Harry said.

"Harry, I can't-"

"-You don't want to look after me," Harry chuckled. Louis looked at him in surprise, Harry rarely made any jokes.

"I wouldn't mind but-"

"-Then stay with me," He interrupted. "You shouldn't be alone."

Louis blushed a little before looking down at his lap. He thought about what Harry proposed, he didn't know if he could. After a few seconds, he quickly leant forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. Harry immediately kissed back and leant forward to kiss him better.

When they separated, their eyes flickered open. They searched each other for any sign of emotion. Their breaths mingling with each other as they stayed a few centimetres apart. Louis stared into his eyes and noticed the fragility hidden underneath.

"I would love to," he took a deep breath. "I-I think I should leave this town though," Louis whispered.

"What?" Harry questioned. His eyes widened. It caused his heart monitor to spike.

"Harry, there is nothing for me here. I've basically lost everything," Louis explained. He got up off of the bed about to walk away. However, Harry held him back with his hand. Louis looked at him with pain in his eyes.

"Where would you go?" Harry quietly asked, looking down at his lap.

"I don't know, back to Brooklyn maybe," he sighed. "Back to England even," Louis said with a nervous laugh.

The room became silent. It made Louis feel uncomfortable.

"Alright," Harry said, letting go of his hand after.

Louis sat back in the chair. This time he clasped his hands together, looking down at the floor beneath him.

"I'll miss you, you know," Harry said, still not looking at him.

"I'll miss you too," Louis whispered.

 

~~~  


The next day, Louis decided to go home. He supposed that Harry would be okay by himself. It was about time that he went home as he hadn't eaten or showered yet.

The snow had seemed to clear over the three days and now he was able to see the ground. The cold still lingered in the air once he got out of the taxi that drove him home.

Seeing his house still in the state that he left it made him frown. Glass lay shattered on the floor along with broken ornaments. Chairs were overturned and blankets were sprawled over the floor.

It would be better for him to clear up, he didn't want to leave it until later. He carefully stepped through the mess and winced at the loud crunch that came from under his feet.

After a few seconds of looking around, he began to clean up the area around him. The reminder of the event was still fresh in his mind.

Louis felt slightly relieved that he could clear the mess around him. The more he cleared, the more it seemed as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

It took him two hours to clear the space. When he finished, he took a step back and looked at the room. A lot of things had been thrown out. The room looked bare with only the furniture due to most of the decorations being destroyed.

Only once he sat down did he realise how tired his body was. Louis had barely slept. He wondered how he still stood. It was about time he rested before he collapsed. After a few minutes, he grabbed his blanket and pulled it over his fatigued body. His eyes drifted closed as he thought about the day.

 

~~~

 

When Louis woke a few hours later, it was dark. He could just about see in front of him. He sighed as he sat up from the couch he was on. As he lived on a side road, barely any road lights were on outside of the house.

He glanced around him and tiredly rubbed a hand over his eyes.

Louis took in a large breath as he swung his legs round to get off the couch. When he felt like getting up he slowly made his way towards the kitchen. Along the way, he blindly switched on one of the lights.

He opened his fridge and frowned. Barely any food was on the shelves apart from some milk and a pack of eggs. He would have to go shopping soon.

Louis sighed in relief when he noticed tea bags in the cupboard. He took out a tea bag and began to make himself a cup of tea. His body sagged in relief when he took a sip of the liquid. It had been forever since he last had a cuppa.

Louis leant his body against the counter and stared out of his window. Did he even belong here anymore? He felt like this was no longer his home, maybe he should move back to Brooklyn. Louis' mind drifted to Harry, no matter how much he didn't want to think about him. He sighed, looking into the murky brown tea in his cup. The steam brushed his face and warmed his red cheeks.

Either way, he would leave. Whether Harry would know about it or not was another issue.

Louis turned to look at the living room and stared at the furniture. He would start packing tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't want this to end y'all
> 
> Do you think Louis should leave? Should he let Harry know when?
> 
> How do you think Harry will feel? How do you think Louis feels?
> 
> Why should/shouldn't Louis stay?
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the long wait but I didn't get those comments...
> 
> I am swamped with tons of work but I have a break on Friday. I'll start writing Dill's POV soon.
> 
> Haooy reading my Lovelies.

Over the next few days, he visited Harry once more. Most of the time he spent packing his belongings in some boxes. He didn't even know where he would go. He hoped that going back to New York would at least give him some idea of what he wanted to do.

There were a few hotels that he knew he could stay in for the time being until he found a proper apartment.

He received a letter a few days ago telling him the money from Dill's will had been transferred to him. The letter brought him to tears. He felt terrible. How could he even spend this money without feeling guilty?

Wooden boxes littered the floor. Many of Louis' things lay around the house. A few more boxes needed to be filled. The house looked bare with almost everything out of it.

A little bit of guilt still nibbled at him when he thought of how Harry would feel about him leaving. Louis hadn't found the courage to talk to him even though he knew that he should at least say something.

Just when he came down the stairs, someone knocked at the door. He stared at the door in confusion, wondering who it could be. Louis did not expect anyone to come to his house at this time. He placed the box he carried down beside the door before opening it. Louis' body sighed in relief when he put the box down, he hadn't rested properly. The little break was a godsend.

It seemed as though by magic the snow had cleared and tufts of grass came from underneath. The skies showed their usual colour and minimal clouds hung in the air.

However, he didn't expect to see the person who stood at the door.

"Harry?" Louis asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Harry looked a bit tired. However, he still had a slight smile on his face.He wore a denim jacket with a tank top underneath and some blue skinny jeans. His hair was tied up into a bun with a few pieces of his chocolate hair hanging out. Louis tried to make sure he didn't see any of the boxes behind him by leaning against the door. "I need to talk to you."

"I thought you would still be at the hospital?" he asked. Harry hadn't even told him that he had left.

Harry shook his head. "They said I could leave. I have a lot of medication to take though."

Louis stared guiltily at the floor. He couldn't help but think it was his fault that all of this had happened.

Eventually, he stepped back to let Harry in through the door. He waited for him to take his boots off then closed the door behind him. Louis took in a deep breath once he noticed how Harry looked at the room.

"So you're definitely going then," Harry muttered. For once, he looked a little downtrodden.

Louis nodded, awkwardly staring at the boxes around him. Harry stood with his back to him for a few seconds. He cautiously followed behind Harry when he began to walk. When he took a seat on his couch, Louis went to sit beside him.

Harry simply stared at the fireplace in front of him. "Have you found somewhere?"

"No," Louis sighed. He admits that he should have thought of somewhere he could go instead of packing straight away.

"I'll come with you," Harry whispered. Louis looked at him with a frown.

"I can't ask that from you."

"You're not asking anything from me," he said. Harry looked at Louis with furrowed eyebrows.

"Harry, you have a life here. I can't let you leave everything behind." It was too much of a risk for Harry to leave everything behind and follow him. However, a part of him wanted him to come with him no matter how impractical it would be.

Harry sighed. "Louis, I never had anything here in the first place."

"But-"

"-I didn't. I can't do much here. Maybe I need to get out of here as well."

"Why?" Louis asked. He tried to search Harry's face to see whether he was truthful or not. "Why would you leave everything you have for me."

Harry chuckled, looking down at his hands. "Because I like you, Louis. I thought it was obvious."

"Well, you don't exactly give away much emotion," he replied with a slight smile. Harry smiled down at his hands at the comment.

"Well, I do."

Louis' lips parted in shock while he stared at Harry. "I'm such a mess, Harry. How could you want to be around me?"

Harry gave him a serious look. "It made me unhappy too when I saw how much you were hurting," He said. "I could see how much pain you were in and having you around made me want to care for you. I felt helpless whenever you looked unhappy. You may not have realised it but you helped me."

"I did?" Louis asked in surprise.

Harry nodded. "You did. You made me feel like I had a purpose."

Harry stared at Louis with an intensity in his eyes. It made Louis take in a sharp breath. Harry's eyes seemed to stare into his soul, making him feel lost for words.

"I thought I was a burden on you," he whispered.

Harry shook his head in disagreement. "You weren't. I didn't think anything could make me change after losing Aidan. However, you came along and you made me realise that maybe I can move on."

As much as it made him feel better that he helped Harry in some way, he didn't know if he could immediately start anything with Harry. Somewhere in him, he still held dearly onto Dill even though he wasn't around anymore. Louis didn't know if he could do anything with Harry without thinking about Dill.

Louis stared down at his hands as he swallowed deeply. "Give me time Harry."

Harry nodded. "Okay."

"I don't know if I can just start a new life with you so quickly after what happened with..." Louis paused, still not able to think about it. He sighed, closing his eyes and resting his head against the palm of his hand. "Everything has been so stressful lately," he muttered.

"Hey, it's over now," Harry said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Louis's tired eyes flickered up to look at him. "Yeah, you're right."

He wasn't sure if Harry felt comfortable with it but he rested his forehead against his shoulder. After a few seconds of hesitancy, Harry pulled his body closer to his chest. The two sat cuddled into the couch and just enjoyed their time together. Their moment of intimacy made both of their hearts race.

Louis listened to the sound of Harry's heartbeat. The gentle rhythm kept him calm as he buried his head within the crevice of his neck. Their breaths synchronised with each other over time and they sat in peaceful silence.

"Thank you," Louis whispered after a few minutes.

"It's fine."

Louis slowly lifted himself from Harry's embrace. The side of his face brushed against Harry's check and within an instant, their lips were in close proximity of each other. Both of them held their breath as they waited for the other's next move.

Harry slowly inched them a bit closer to each other and soon their lips joined in a kiss. Both of their eyes slipped closed when they kissed. They focused on the sensation of the other's lips. Harry held his cheek in his hand before slightly turning his head to the side. After they passed their original hesitancy, they began to kiss each other properly. Harry slipped his tongue into Louis' mouth and let out a quiet moan.

Only after a few seconds, Louis slowly separated the two of them. Louis' eyes flickered up to Harry's green ones. His own eyes felt watery with random emotions beginning to pop up in his head.

"I'll um...Get back to you," Louis whispered against his lips.

Harry nodded to himself. "I'll see you later."

The two of them slowly stood up together and awkwardly stood beside each other. Eventually, Louis ducked his head down as he showed him to the door.

Harry slipped his boots on. Louis patiently watched from the side.

He opened the door when Harry finished, letting him walk past him.

It was silent as the two stared at each other. Neither of them knew what to say.

"Bye Harry," Louis muttered, leaning against the door frame. Harry nodded before stepping forward and pressing a kiss to Louis' cheek.

"Bye Lou."

Louis sighed, turning his back against the door frame. He huffed when he rested his body against it. Why did his life have to be so confusing? He wished everything could have been simpler.

Even though it wasn't that late, his first thought was to go to bed. The day had dragged on forever and the fatigue began to kick in.

 

~~~

 

The lack of sleep gave Louis a tired look. He had been up for most of the night thinking about what he wanted to do. Should he go with Harry? Or just go alone?

The next day, he finally decided to get up and give Harry an answer. He didn't know how he would say it. Louis hoped that something would come to him.

He found himself outside Harry's door just before midday. It wasn't that cold anymore so all he wore on top of his clothes was his coat and a light scarf.

Louis knocked on the front of the wooden door, patiently waiting to see if Harry was home. It took him a while to come. Louis wondered if he was even home. Eventually, Harry opened the door. Louis tiredly smiled at him.

"Hey, Lou," he said with a bit of surprise in his voice. He probably should have told him he wanted to come over.

"Hey," Louis paused. "I came to talk...about everything."

"Come in," Harry replied, opening the door wider for him.

"Thank you."

Louis began to take his shoes off and placed them beside Harry's other snow boots. Louis followed Harry into the kitchen and watched as Harry brought out two mugs from a cupboard.

"Tea or coffee?" he asked. He didn't expect this.

"Um...Tea, please. Milk no sugar," he whispered. Louis hesitantly took a seat on one of the chairs by the dining table.

Harry nodded as he put the kettle on. They stayed in silence while Harry made them their hot drinks. Louis glanced at the things in the kitchen to occupy the time.

Not much had changed since he last came. When he came in, he realised that Harry had taken off the photo of him and, who he assumed was Aidan, down from the wall.

Harry brought him his steaming hot mug and placed it on the table in front of him.

"Thank you," Louis hesitantly smiled. Harry came back with his own drink of what looked like hot chocolate.

"What did you want to talk about?" Harry started. Louis' eyes flickered up to Harry's face. His mind immediately went blank. He forgot everything he wanted to say. Harry patiently waited for him to start talking.

"I-I...Just...I don't know where to start."

Harry took a sip of his drink. "Are you going by yourself then?"

"No," he said. Harry sat up in his seat. "I want you to come with me."

"Okay," he nodded with a serious look on his face.

"I don't know when I want to leave. I want to do it sooner rather than later. I-I've packed all my things."

"I can go whenever you want," Harry said.

Louis sighed, looking down at his lap. "I still don't like that you are leaving everything behind for me."

Harry reached for his hand and he gasped at their contact. "I don't mind Louis. I wouldn't say yes if I didn't think that I could do it."

Louis swallowed at his words. "If you're sure Harry."

"I am."

He looked down at his hands and sighed. "I have the money I got from..." Louis didn't continue speaking. He hoped Harry understood what he meant.

"I can contribute something. I'm not going to let you pay for this on your own."

"Thank you,"he said.

There was a slight pause in their conversation as neither knew what to say. After a minute, Harry finally asked something he had been wondering about for a while. "What are we then?"

Louis frowned. "I don't know. We don't have to be anything. I'm not ready."

"Okay," Harry muttered.

They stared at each other, searching for any emotion on the others face. Louis felt a little relieved that this was now off of his chest.

"I think I should go," Louis whispered. "Thank you for listening, Harry."

"It's okay, Lou. I want to do this."

Louis nodded and looked at the tea on the table. It had gotten cold now.

"Sorry for not finishing the tea," he muttered. Harry smiled at his words.

"I don't mind."

Louis eventually stood up from his chair. Harry followed after him. They awkwardly stood by each other, waiting for the other's move. It took a bit of time for Louis to hug him. They tightly held onto each and couldn't seem to let go.

Louis buried his face into Harry's neck and took in a deep breath. His body felt warmer once Harry took him in. He didn't want to let go at all.

"Goodbye, Harry," Louis said.

"Bye, Lou. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see you later."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three comments y'all.
> 
> You know that I wouldn't keep Harry and Louis apart.
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay y'all Epilogue will follow this chapter and then that is it from me *sad face*
> 
> Can we get three comments? I want to know what you thought of the story. If you're happy, surprised or disappointed I don't care, I want to hear your thoughts!

Three months later, they found themselves in Brooklyn. By this point, Verlee had been arrested and convicted of her crimes after their testimonies. A small weight had been lifted off of his shoulder now they were back in Brooklyn. It felt like home now. The view of the bridge they had from the apartment was beautiful.

Maybe, it was right that he had come back to the place he loved the most. Apart from England of course.

Both Harry and Louis had settled into their apartment by now. He admits that Harry found it a bit hard at first. The unfamiliar area along with the city life made him feel estranged. A month into it, things became easier.

Louis sat on a ledge just by one of their windows, staring out into the street. He wore one of Harry's shirts that managed to come almost to the middle of his thighs. Louis tightly held onto his legs which he pulled close to his chest. By this time the winter began to drift away. Spring was not too far away.

Louis let out a long breath and watched as it fogged up the window. He focused on the foggy glass, observing the little droplets of water which rolled down the window.

"Lou?" a voice called.

His head turned to look at Harry who stood by the door to the bedroom. He wore a pair of denim jeans and his chest was bare. His hair was pulled up into a bun. A few strands fell beside his chiselled jaw.

"You alright?"

Louis nodded with a smile then carried on looking out of the window. He heard Harry's footsteps pace through the room until he got to the window sill.

He felt a hand brush over his back and wrap around to his shoulder. A light smile appeared on his face. Louis leant back into his delicate touch. He shuffled over a bit when Harry came to sit down beside him. The cold window made him shiver when his skin touched it.

Harry pressed light kisses onto his covered shoulder and held him for a bit. As Louis focused on the things going on outside the room, Harry began to kiss up his neck until he arrived at his cheek.

"Can we go for a walk later?" Louis asked, breaking the silence.

"Of course, Lou," Harry nodded. "Where to?"

"I don't know."

"Okay," he replied. Louis shifted from his spot and moved to face Harry.

They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds. Louis broke out into a smile. Harry raised an eyebrow at him. It was unusual to see him this happy so he gave him a quick peck on the forehead.

Louis' smile widened, his eyes slipping closed in bliss. After a minute, he got up from his space and stretched while he walked over the carpeted floor. Harry decided to come up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist. Louis giggled as he snaked his arms around his body. Harry gave him one more kiss before heading for the chest of drawers.

While waiting for Harry, Louis lay back on the bed covers and closed his eyes. He heard small rustles of clothes and openings of drawers every so often.

It went quiet after a minute. Louis noticed a shadow appear through his closed eyes and a dip in the covers beside him. When he opened his eyes, Harry lay over him. A few seconds later, Harry leant down to kiss Louis deeply on the lips.

They shared a sweet kiss enjoying the time they had together. Louis' arms and legs wrapped around Harry's body to bring him closer. Slowly, Harry lay his body on him with care.

"Come on, Lou. Let's get ready," he whispered over Louis' lips.

"Okay," Louis replied. He pecked his lips one more time before rolling away from him.

 

~~~

 

An hour later, the two walked hand in hand down the streets of Brooklyn. Their gloved hands tightly gripped each other, not wanting to let go. A little cold air escaped Louis' mouth when they approached Brooklyn Bridge.It took them only five minutes to arrive.

Many other people hurried past them while they walked. Even though it was Sunday, the bridge felt quite busy. They stopped at a viewpoint which overlooked part of the city. The wind lightly blew over their faces with a hint of sun.

Louis watched in slight awe of the view. It was one of his favourite places in Brooklyn.

"I love the view from here," Louis sighed.

Harry wrapped an arm around Louis' waist, pulling him a little closer to his body. He stared out at the river ahead of them. Louis always wondered whether Harry wanted to be here. However, he seemed to enjoy it even though it took some time to get used to it.

"It is beautiful," Harry muttered.

They stayed in silence and appreciated the area around them. A few tourists stopped beside them and took a couple of photos. For Louis, a picture couldn't show the beauty of the bridge.

After a few moments, Harry noticed how quiet Louis was and didn't know what to say. His eyes looked a little watery. Something must have been troubling him.

"What's the matter, Lou?" Harry asked.

Louis took in a shaky breath before speaking. "Dill and I walked along here on our first date," Harry opened his mouth to speak. However, Louis interrupted him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring him up. We're here now."

Harry comfortingly rubbed along Louis' back then pressed a kiss to his forehead. "I understand, Lou."

A lone tear rolled down Louis' face. "I don't know if I'll ever get over him, Harry."

Harry frowned at his expression. "That's fine. I don't expect you too. We'll do this together though."

"Thank you, Harry," Louis whispered. "Sorry for ruining the mood," he sniffed.

Harry turned Louis to face him and gently held his face in his hands. "Don't be, Lou. You can talk to me."

Louis nodded, appreciative of the fact that Harry understood him. Harry wiped away a tear which had fallen and smiled.

"I guess, we're just two grieving souls who somehow managed to find each other," he chuckled with a shrug.

"Well, I'm glad that my soul found you then, Lou."

Louis smiled at his words before leaning up to kiss him.

Even though life wasn't perfect, Louis still felt glad to have Harry in his life. He didn't know what he would do without him. It was in times like these when everything seemed to fall on his shoulder. Harry remained as someone who was there for him. Louis hoped that they would continue to help each other heal as that was the most important thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow.
> 
> I had so much fun writing this story, feels really weird for it to basically be finished.
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	18. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, so sorry for the long wait but I've been tired and just trying to rest. Self-care is important y'all. Hope you enjoy, this is Dill's death from his point of view.

_The next day, Dill woke up alone. It made him frowned. He hoped Louis hadn’t already left for work. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to properly apologise to him._

_In record time he got himself ready for work and soon he was walking down the stairs to get to the kitchen. He felt relieved when he saw Louis standing by the sink in a pair of black skinny jeans and a black top. He wore black VANS on his feet as well._

_“Lou?” Louis jumped slightly as he turned around for a few seconds before looking at the sink again. “Do you need a lift?”_

_He watched as Louis lifted his head to look out of the window. A thin layer of snow, only half a centimetre thick, had settled on the ground. Dill hoped that he would say yes._

_“Um…It’s okay. It’s only a twenty-minute walk. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you after work.”_

_"It would be quicker for me to drop you off and it's on my way." Dill desperately wanted him to say yes_.

_"I said it's fine Dill," Louis muttered, looking at him through the corner of his eye. Dill noticed that Louis tightly gripped onto the sink. He decided to leave it._

_He sighed to himself before nodding. He walked towards Louis and stopped as soon as he was a few inches away from him. Louis grabbed a plastic bag beside him and thrust it in his direction without looking._

_“I made you lunch, it was only leftovers but you can have it.”_

_Dill took hold of the bag, deciding whether he should give him a kiss or not. “Lou, can you look at me, please? I want to see your face this morning.” Louis turned his head. He finally noticed the tears that were in his eyes. “Oh, Lou!”_

_Immediately, his hands went to Louis’ face. He pressed gentle kisses to his cheeks. When he tried to go for his lips, Louis quickly turned his head to the side. He only got to kiss his cheek. Dill sighed as he rested his head against Louis’ forehead._

_They stayed like that for what seemed like a long time. However, it was only a few minutes. Louis sighed when Dill pulled away._

_“Please be safe,” Louis whispered. Dill looked at him in shock._

_He wanted to say more. However, the look in Louis' eyes kept him quiet. “I promise I will.”_

_Louis shook his head, closing his eyes when he felt tears begin to come back again. “No, you don’t understand. Someone is possibly trying to kill you. I-I don’t want you to die,” Louis whimpered before falling into Dill’s chest._

_“I know Lou, I know.”_

_Dill tried to calm him down by stroking the back of his head and giving him a few kisses. It worked slightly._

_“Lou, I’ll promise you this, if I get another threat then I’ll go to the police.”_

_Louis sighed into his chest, nodding as best as he could with Dill around him. “Okay, thank you, Dill.”_

_“I will do it for you.”_

_“Please just go. You’ll be late,” Louis whispered, wiping a tear away from under his eyes._

_Dill nodded before kissing him just in the centre of his forehead. “I’ll be back,” he whispered as he slowly walked back and grabbed his briefcase. Louis knew that he had a long drive to work. However, he just wanted him to take it easy, especially now that a thin layer of ice had begun to form on the roads._

_“Dill,” Louis called out just when he got to the door._

_“Yeah?” He asked hopefully._

_“I love you.”_

_A smile made his whole body relax as he looked at Louis. “I love you too. I’ll see you later Lou.”_

_Once he closed the door behind him, he rested his head against it for a few seconds before heading to their truck that was a few metres away._

 

~~~

 

_The ice made Dill's journey to work take half an hour longer than it should have. However, he made it. Luckily, there was a spot for him._

_Dill looked up at the small office building. Some layers of snow had settled on the other cars. He sat in the truck for a few minutes then sighed. He would rather be at home trying to reassure Louis than go to work._

_He grabbed his briefcase from the seat beside him, climbing out of the truck to head to work._

_Once inside, he greeted the receptionist along with a few other workers. Dill took in a deep breath when he got inside the elevator. It was just him for the short journey to the second floor._

_When the doors pinged open, he strode through the office floor to his desk. A few workers greeted him when he passed. Dill took a seat on his desk chair. His body sagged in relief. He let his eyes slip closed for a little before staring at the computer screen in front of him._

_Chelsea, his desk buddy, came up to his desk as he logged in._

_"Morning Dill! How are you doing?"_

_"Okay," he replied._

_"Good to hear. Have a nice weekend?"_

_Dill twisted his mouth in thought at the question. "Err, Verlee came over. I also met some of my neighbours."_

_"That sounds lovely," she smiled before taking a seat on her desk chair._

_Their conversation ended there. Dill began to work on some of the tasks his clients asked him to do. Before he knew it, it was almost lunchtime._

_His eyes glanced over to the clock on his computer. It was almost 12._

_Just as he finished his last task, Verlee approached his desk. Chelsea had already headed off for lunch._

_"Hey, Dill, how you doing?" she asked, leaning an arm against the desk._

_Unlike her usual attire, she wore a pair of black jeans, a blue jacket with a fur hood and a white sweater._

_"Not too good. What's with the clothing?" Dill asked, glancing down at her snow boots._

_"It's absolutely terrible weather in Halifax right now. Snow is really falling," Verlee huffed._

_"That's terrible," he frowned._

_"I guess," she shrugged. "What's up with you?"_

_"Louis and I had an argument," Dill sighed, looking down at his lap._

_"Sorry to hear that," Verlee muttered._

_"I don't know if Louis has forgiven me. I don't want there to be anything bad between us."_

_The thought of Louis being angry at him made him feel disconcerted._

_"How about we talk about it over coffee?" she asked._

_"But I have to finish this," he replied, looking at the assignment on his desk._

_"You work too hard," Verlee chuckled. "You can have a break for five minutes, Dill."_

_Dill nodded before deciding to follow Verlee to her office. He would have to finish it another day._

 

~~~

 

_About five minutes later, the two sat alone in Verlee's office. She was making them a cup of tea to have something to talk over. Dill sat on a leather couch just opposite her small tea-making area._

_The kettle had finished boiling the water for the tea. Verlee quickly made them their tea, adding in some sugar to his cup. She gasped before groaning. She turned to Dill with an apologetic look on her face._

_"I'm so sorry. I accidentally put sugar in your tea without asking. Is that okay?"_

_"It's alright Verlee, it won't kill me," he joked. Dill didn't notice the slight frown in her expression._

_"Here you go Dill," Verlee said. When she came over, she handed him a piping hot cup of tea which he accepted gratefully._

_"Go on, talk to Vee. What's up?" she said, making Dill chuckle._

_He took a sip of his tea then started telling her what happened._

 

~~~

 

_At 12:15, Dill was back at his desk. However, he felt sick. He had eaten the leftovers Louis gave him. Dill wasn't sure if it was the food but something didn't agree with him._

_Dill tried his hardest to focus on his work._

_"Hey, you alright?" Chelsea asked with a hint of concern in her voice._

_"I don't know," he muttered, rubbing over his stomach. "I'm just going to go to the toilet._

_Dill slowly stood up from his desk. He closed his eyes when he felt a little twinge in his stomach. Dill made his way to the toilet. He wanted to vomit yet he didn't know if he could._

_While walking to the bathroom, he bumped into Verlee. She smiled at him before her face contorted into confusion._

_"You alright? You look ill?" she frowned._

_"I think I ate something bad," Dill muttered._

_"Oh. Do you feel sick?"_

_"A little," he replied, rubbing his forehead with his fingers._

_For some reason, the ringing of the telephones along with the constant voices hurt his head._

_"Go home, Dill. You don't look good."_

_The last thing he wanted to do was go home. Dill wanted to finish his work. "Verlee, there is no nee-"_

_"-Hey, I'm telling you to go home and that's an order. If I see you at your desk in the next fifteen minutes, I'm taking you home myself," Verlee spoke. She folded her arms over her chest, staring at him with a raised eyebrow._

_Dill sighed before nodding. "Okay."_

_"Good, now go," she said. "Tell me when you get home."_

_He nodded again, making his way to the bathroom after._

 

~~~

 

_Forty minutes later, Dill walked into the store where he knew Louis worked. He wanted to talk to him before he went home. He glanced over to the tills, seeing Louis talking with one of his coworkers. Inside, Dill felt relieved that Louis hadn't left for lunch yet._

_Dill headed for the dairy aisle then pretended to look for something. He waited for a few minutes before continuing down the aisle._

_His stomach felt strange. It felt like more than an upset stomach. There was something deeper within._

_“Dill? What are you doing here?”_

_Dill jumped when a voice came from behind him. It was Louis. He broke out into a smile that soon fell a little. “Hey, Lou.”_

_“Hey, I was just going for my break. How are you?” Louis asked. Dill hoped that he hadn't noticed his paling face. He didn't want him to worry anymore._

_“I’m fine, I just left work, I’m going home now actually.”_

_“You’ve finished?” he said. Louis looked a little surprised._

_“Yeah, I got let off early.”_

_Dill twisted his mouth in thought as he looked at the tiled floor beneath him. They had fallen into an awkward silence. It was obvious what happened this morning still resided in the air._

_“Come to lunch with me,” Louis eventually said._

_Dill sighed. “I’ve already eaten Lou but I’ll sit with you.”_

_Louis gratefully smiled. “Thank you.”_

_Dill only nodded before holding his hand out to Louis. He seemed to pause while he stared at Dill's hand. They never used to be this awkward around each other._

_“What’s wrong? Why are you looking like that?” Louis asked with a frown. Eventually, he linked their hands together._

_“Sorry, work has just drained me a bit,” Dill apologised. He comfortingly squeezed Louis' hand before smiling at him._

_“Well, you can come and sit with me outside then. I don’t have much time.”_

_Ten minutes later, they were sat by the sea on a bench. Dill's eyes focused on the sea ahead of him. He couldn't seem to shake the ill feeling in his body. He felt like he wanted to vomit whatever it was out of him. A shaky breath escaped him when he released how difficult it was for him to breathe._

_Dill didn't notice Louis turn to look at him. His right hand felt a little tight like he couldn't move any of the muscles inside of it._

_“Di, what’s wrong?”_

_Dill swallowed after a shallow breath. “N-Nothing, I just feel a bit sick.”_

_He frowned. “Oh, okay. We can get some medicine from the shop if you want. I don’t want it getting too serious.”_

_“Lou, it’s okay. I’ll be fine. I’ll just have some tea then go to bed. Okay?”_

_Louis nodded as he linked one of their hands. “Alright,” he whispered._

_Dill gasped when Louis gave him a kiss on the lips. It helped put his mind at rest a little. At least he wanted to kiss him now._

_“I love you okay, I’m sorry for how I acted yesterday,” Louis sighed._

_“You had a valid reason, Lou, I should have told you.”_

_Louis only nodded before pulling out his phone and noticing the time. “Oh! I have to go. I’ll see you later Di.”_

_“Bye Lou,” Dill muttered, watching as Louis took the road back to his workplace._

_It was only then that he felt eyes on him. His head quickly turned around to see who it was. Dill noticed Dnias staring at him just before his head turned back to the boat he worked on. Dill just decided to ignore it. Instead, he headed towards their car that he left down the road._

 

~~~

 

_Dill tiredly pushed open the front door of their house. His body felt weak. He needed a rest. For some reason, the journey home was more difficult than it should have been. His muscles didn't seem to want to work with him. It was a miracle he even made it this far._

_Dill took in a deep breath as he leant against the door. His throat felt a little constricted while his body felt heavy._

_He stumbled forward on shaky legs when he headed for the kitchen. Dill tightly grabbed onto the counter for support. He didn't know what happened to him._

_As he reached for the medicine cupboard, somebody knocked on the door. Dill wheezed while he tiredly shuffled to the door._

_His face fell when he opened the door to Dnias. Dill hoped that it would have been Louis._

_"What do you want?" Dill muttered, tightly holding onto the door for support._

_Dnias looked angry. However, Dill didn't care for what he had to say. "I don't like it when you and that other imbecile kiss out in the open. Nobody wants to see that."_

_"Louis and I don't care w-what you think Dnias," he wheezed._

_"Well, you should. There are children on the street who don't need to see what you two do. They don't need their minds filled with the wrong ideas."_

_Dill tightly closed his eyes. It felt like his throat was constricting. "T-There is nothing forbidding us from being here, Dnias."_

_"You don't deserve to be in this town."_

_"Please j-just leave us alone," he muttered. It looked as though he was on the verge of passing out._

_"No! You two need to leave this town. You don't belong here," Dnias said, pointing a harsh finger into his chest._

_Dill stumbled backwards at the force, letting go of his hold on the door._

_Dnias' eyes widened when Dill began to cough. He simply walked back, staring at Dill's weak figure._

_Dill's chest violently heaved while he spluttered out some saliva. His body convulsed as he began to spasm on the floor. Dill couldn't control his breathing or his movement as much as he wanted to._

_He hadn't noticed that Dnias had left._

_With his lasts breaths, his thoughts drifted to Louis. He wished he could have told him he loved him before this happened to him._

_Dill took in one last breath. His back lay arched off of the ground as he tried to take in one more breath. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Dill's eyes slipped closed. Finally, his body relaxed in peace._

 

~~~

 

_The house became eerily silent. Dill's body lay lifeless on the floor. The house was shrouded in darkness. It was as if all the light had been taken from the building._

_A cold draft came in from the slightly ajar door. The body was cold with the winter breeze. It had been there for an hour by now. The sound of footsteps through the snow came from outside. The door creaked open when another figure stepped in._

_The person pulled their hood down once they were in. Verlee looked at Dill's body. She continued to stare with an impassive look on her face before glancing over at a clock on the wall._

_It was around 2:30 pm, she had just enough time to work before Louis came home._

_Verlee stepped over his body and headed for the kitchen. Her gloved hand reached for one of the cabinets. She pulled out a small bottle of Strychnine, replacing a spice bottle with it._

_When she was done, she carefully closed the cupboards. Verlee walked back to stare at Dill's body. Even when she looked at him, she felt no remorse for what happened. With one last look around the house, Verlee closed the door behind her. She made sure that Dill's body obstructed the door before disappearing back into the day._

 

~~~

 

_It was only once Louis came back to the house that there was any movement. Louis' feet crunched under the snow while he walked toward the door. His steps slowed when he began to notice the door slightly ajar._

_Louis paused at the open door. It should have been locked. However, his mind couldn't escape the feeling that something had gone wrong._

_“Dill?” He called out into the house._

_Maybe it would have been better for him not to open the door. Yet, he couldn't escape the inevitable._

_Louis pushed himself through the small gap in the door. He froze when he saw what obstructed the door._

_Dill's unconscious body lay on the floor. His face had lost all colour while his body lay in an awkward position._

_The shock had yet to process in his body. Only once he saw what happened did he know how to react._

_What sounded next was his blood-curdling scream._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna add a thank you note at the end but this is it y'all. Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> P.S. if you didn't realise, the sugar she put in his drink was the poison.
> 
> Comment/Kudos/Subscribe


	19. End Note

I'm just gonna recommend all of my books just for some sly promo.

  * ['Gone With The Wind' ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16047185/chapters/37462427)



With Harry as Catwoman and Louis as himself. This is an unexpected love story between two people on different sides of life.

(I was inspired by Harry's interview with Nick Grimshaw in 2017. This is really overdue.)

  * ['I'll Be Holding On Until You Come Back Home'](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14769243/chapters/34155813)



Everything seems to be going well for Harry and Louis with their daughter Skylar but one letter changes everything.

  * ['100 Things I Love About You'](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11969835/chapters/27069906)



Louis sets Harry a challenge, and Harry tells Louis just how much he loves him.

  * [No Place Like Prom (One Shot)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11609067)



Harry tries to bring himself to ask Louis to Prom. Only with some help from his friends and mum does he decide to do it.

  * [Bonnie and Clyde (Alternate Version)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11006298/chapters/24519912)



Harry and Louis are serial killers and this is their story.

  * [Bittersweet Tragedy ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8434831/chapters/19324390)



After Harry finds out that he is pregnant, how will The Joker react to the news?

  * [Bonnie and Clyde](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9057823/chapters/20604556)



Harry and Louis are serial killers and this is their story.

  * ['They Just Don't Know You'](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8081929/chapters/18519223) which is the first story of this series. 



'The Joker, a.k.a Louis, and Harley Quinn, a.k.a Harry, the Clown Prince and Princess of Crime. They were well-known names throughout Gotham City, either feared, hated or admired by others. They ruled a fair part of the city. Whether people noticed or not, they caused a lot of havoc in the city. People had always tried to get out of trouble with them and would instantly regret getting on their bad side. They were both psychopaths that fell in love with each other, maybe it was one-sided, but no one dared say anything. But this is a tale about how Harley fell for the infamous Joker. Whatever it was that made him fall for the deranged man, is what you will find out.'

  * ['Money Makes The World Go Round'](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6934297/chapters/15817057) 



Louise and her gang are trying to rob a bank. Their new recruitment, Harriet, is something more than she expected or Louise doesn't realise that she's the one for her. Maybe it's her shyness or the way she seems to be a bit flustered around her.

  * ['Let It Snow' ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5866447)



A winter!Larry one shot.

  * ['Shakespeare's Love Story'](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5447918/chapters/12592244) 



Where Harry is a university student studying in Photography. One day he meets the love of his life on his usual visit to the park or where Louis is a Drama student with a really nosey family.

  * ['You Can Call Me Queenbee'](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4977031/chapters/11430688) 



Louis Tomlinson is the Princess of England. His parents, the King and the Queen want him to find a husband but he hasn't found the right person. Will the next Prince suffice?

Well, this was so much fun to write y'all. I really enjoyed it and I hope you did too. Your comments were so fun to read as well, especially when I read your theories.

I plan to write two more books and that will be the last of my larry writing. As I've gotten older, I am starting to prioritise certain things and this isn't one of them. While it has been fun to write, I have other things to focus on. It has definitely been fun while it lasted.

I hope you all enjoyed the ride that was 'Winter's Peril'.

Check out my other stories.

If any of you have written any stories, I will gladly read them!!!

Anywhooo, I love all of you guys, yeah and I thank you for the support.

Thank you again my lovelies and I hope to see you for my next book.


	20. Explanation

Well, I totally forgot to add this in my endnote but I wanted to add some things which you may not have noticed.

First of all, the meaning of my character names.

  * Dill Cecilio. So these are Italian names. Dill means foolish while Cecilio means blind. I think you'll realise why I chose that. 


  * Emily Gunn. Well, she didn't really have a particular meaning to her name, just something I thought up. Same with Catherine Carter and Pastor Richard.


  * Verlee Anderson. Verlee means truthful/honest. That was a bit of a red herring. While Anderson is just her surname.


  * Dnias Ladd. The name Dnias means murderer which was a red herring as well.


  * Aidan Flint, Harry's previous lover. Aidan means fire while flints can be used to start fires.


  * Joseph Atwood. Well, Joseph means 'God shall add' while Atwood means 'by the woods'. As he is a woodchopper, it makes sense right?. 


  * Abel Beaumont. Abel means breath while Beaumont means beautiful mountain.



The snow kinda represented like the level of danger. So at the start, it was quite calm. Once we got to where Verlee confronts him with a gun, the snow is quite intense. While the day after Harry had been shot, it disappeared. So, just a little bit of pathetic fallacy.

(I tried y'all)

 


End file.
